The public and political response to the Optus incident, including the federal government’s announcement of urgent privacy law reform, suggests there may now be an appetite to test obstacles to data breach class actions, or for the government to legislate around them, say Allens lawyers Kate Austin, Valeska Bloch, Isabelle Guyot and Andrew Burns.
Toyota Australia has been hit with a class action on behalf of up to half a million owners of diesel-powered vehicles which allegedly contain diesel ‘defeat devices’ that allowed the car manufacturer to cheat on emissions tests.
A judge has ordered Shine Lawyers to pay indemnity costs in a side dispute over an “objectionable” subpoena the firm issued five days before trial was set to start in a personal injury case over alleged sexual abuse at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre.
A group member in the historic Black Saturday bushfire class action has filed a lawsuit alleging Maurice Blackburn was negligent in failing to bring a lawsuit over his work-related adenocarcinoma within time.
The Supreme Court of Victoria has been called out in a report into sexually inappropriate behavior and bullying by judges as an “extremely hierarchical” workplace that has all the risk factors for harassment.
Fund manager Salter Brothers has been awarded more than $8 million in a breach of warranty suit against former Hendry Group boss Emma Hendry and related parties after they failed to comply with court orders in the case.
French drug giant Sanofi has appealed a decision giving American biopharmaceutical company Amgen the go-ahead for its patents for a cholesterol-lowering antibody that could be used to treat heart disease, diabetes, stroke and Alzheimer’s.
Hillsong Church has denied whistleblower allegations of extensive financial misconduct, claiming an employee was “not correct” to accuse the megachurch of funnelling donations through US bank accounts to skirt Australian charity regulations.
The NSW gaming regulator has suspended the Star Entertainment Group’s casino license and handed it a $100 million fine after uncovering anti-money laundering breaches and “inherently deceptive” misconduct.
A judge has questioned a class action firm’s claim that it and its counsel spent 180 hours and $63,000 in fees preparing pleadings in an underpayments class action against supermarket chain Drakes, saying the number of hours was not “reasonable”.
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