The Albanese government has started a public consultation after ditching provisions from sex harassment legislation which would have forced parties to bear their own costs in discrimination litigation, noting that lawyers favour an ‘equal access’ costs model.
A Chinese crypto miner has won its equipment back, for now, after a Melbourne business it charged with looking after the machines allegedly allowed four other businesses to access them, culminating in a five-way stoush involving an ambulance and police.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has instituted court proceedings against the insurance arm of Queensland’s peak motoring body alleging it misled customers about their entitlement to discounts on a range of insurance products.
Department store David Jones and men’s fashion label Politix have admitted underpaying more than 7,000 employees and will back-pay the workers $4 million in wages and superannuation.
A judge has approved a $192.5 million settlement in an oil spill class action on behalf of Indonesian seaweed farmers, but the slice for the law firm running the action and its litigation funder remains to be determined amid allegations of negligence by the former lead applicant in the case.
Maurice Blackburn has had a second crack at a group costs order in three class actions against banks over alleged flexible commission schemes after a judge in 2021 rejected what was then the first-ever application for a contingency fee.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has lost its challenge to a decision that tossed its case alleging NSW Ports stymied competition when it signed a 50-year agreement with the state to privatise two ports.
A Federal Court judge who stepped down from the bench in December is joining global law firm DLA Piper after just four months in retirement.
Personal lender ClearLoans and its parent company have been hit with $6 million in penalties for violating consumer credit protections laws, including by failing to respond to financial hardship notices from debtors during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Journalist Tegan George has reworked her sex discrimination case against Network Ten, claiming the Canberra bureau had a culture that was “sexually hostile, demeaning and oppressive”.
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