An appeals court has found that two former executives of collapsed electronics retailer Dick Smith should pay the company’s receivers $11.8 million in damages for approving a dividend payment the company could not afford.
The former owner of fitness franchise Zap Fitness has sued accounting firm Pitcher Partners, claiming it failed to properly advise on a troubled share buy-back scheme that spawned litigation the company paid $4.25 million to settle.
A Federal Court judge has recused himself from hearing a fraud trial against Forum Finance, after expressing that he had an “unfavourable” impression of director Vince Tesoriero’s reliability as a witness.
A judge has raised concerns that AMP Financial Planning has not compensated customers for allegedly failing to prevent life insurance churning, directing the firm to explain the “vanishingly small” number of people who have been remediated.
A judge who has granted a lawyer leave to appear in proceedings via audio visual link has warned the legal profession that courts are expecting to “return to normal” and that tolerance for remote hearings has “come to an end”.
Despite noting that a class action trial and appeal were “unusual”, a judge overseeing a long-running class action against Ford has refused an application to send a notice to group members about a coming appeal in the case.
The ACCC has raised concerns that Qantas’ proposed acquisition of Brisbane-based regional airline Alliance Aviation Services could harm competition in the market for flights for fly-in, fly-out workers.
Google has won its appeal of a judgment awarded to gangland lawyer George Defteros that found the tech giant liable for linking to an allegedly defamatory article, with the High Court finding Google was not the publisher of the story.
Gaming giant Aristocrat Technologies has lost its legal challenge to a decision that rejected a patent for its popular Lightning Link electronic poker machine, after six High Court Justices were equally split on whether it could be patented.
The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission has begrudgingly overturned a ruling that found a Deliveroo driver who was axed for not working fast enough was an employee, saying a recent High Court judgment required it to “close our eyes” to the reality of gig economy work.