The clock is ticking on Commonwealth Bank’s search for a new general counsel, with the position still vacant two weeks before the bank’s current top lawyer’s planned departure, announced almost four months ago in the wake of the Hayne royal commission’s scathing final report into the banking sector.
While no means a flood, the class actions filed in response to the shocking evidence of misbehaviour at last year’s banking royal commission have been steadily flowing and show no signs of drying up. Here, we give you the round-up of cases launched so far, the latest developments in each, and what’s coming down the pipeline.
A second combustible cladding class action has been launched, this time against Fairview Architectural, the Australian manufacturer of Vitrabond polyethylene cladding, which it claims has been used at major Australian airports, entertainment facilities and government buildings.
A judge has baulked at an application by labour hire company Chandler Macleod and BHP unit Mt Arthur Coal seeking security for their legal costs in two casual worker class actions, saying Fair Work cases were not the same as shareholder class actions.
The judge overseeing a dispute between Kraft and Bega over peanut butter trade dress rights has stayed orders barring Kraft from selling peanut butter in Australia featuring the disputed trade dress while it appeals its loss to Bega in the case.
Group members in a class action against Johnson & Johnson unit DePuy International over allegedly defective hip implants are on track to receive 100 per cent of their claims as the $250 million settlement continues to be distributed, a court has heard.
The Commonwealth has agreed to fund a public examination into the affairs of collapsed Queensland-based construction group JM Kelly, after liquidators uncovered a complicated web of inter-company loans.
Ultra Tune has been given the go-ahead to challenge a $2.6 million penalty for alleged breaches of franchising and consumer laws, after a judge said she had “no sympathy” for the consumer regulator’s opposition to the car repair franchisor’s bid for more time to lodge an appeal.
The Fair Work Commission has dismissed an appeal by Ryan Wilks challenging a finding that the electrical and engineering company unfairly sacked an employee for getting drunk at a work function hosted by the Sydney Opera House, a major client.
HWL Ebsworth’s partners are facing trial in a case blaming the law firm and the NSW government for losses stemming from the $28.5 million sale of Crown-owned Sydney land to property developer PPK Group.
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