A Sydney barrister and solicitor have settled a dispute over a $320,000 bill initially estimated to cost $60,000 after an appeals court found two costs agreements were void and held that courts should take a “purposive approach” to the rules governing costs disclosure obligations.
An underpayments class action against Sydney Trains has flagged an application to exclude unregistered group members from any settlement, as the High Court steps in to resolve an appellate court split on the power to make class closure orders.
Several insurers have won a dispute with two Melbourne businesses about whether an industrial special risks policy can cover losses suffered during COVID-19 lockdowns, with a judge finding the policy did not respond just because there were recorded cases in Melbourne.
The NSW legal community has welcomed to the bench the newest Supreme Court judge, Richard McHugh, who reflected on his good fortune in a ceremony on Tuesday and vowed to try, at least, not to get grumpy.
A environmental group has lost its challenge to the extension of the Mount Pleasant open cut coal mine in NSW operated by MACH Energy, with a judge finding the planning commission considered greenhouse emissions and did not merely pay “lip service” to the issue.
The lead plaintiff in a class action alleging NSW Police conducted illegal strip searches at music festivals has argued the state cannot rely on a defence that the searches were a reasonable exercise of power, after a recent judgment found the defence does not apply to unlawful arrests.
HWL Ebsworth has won indemnity costs against a former client who alleged the firm gave negligent advice over property in Parramatta’s ‘Auto Alley’, with a court saying the client was the “author of the outcome about which it complains” by rejecting a $1.35 million settlement offer.
A class action on behalf of public housing tenants who were allegedly forced to relocate is facing a bid for summary judgment by the ACT government, which claims it is not the correct respondent.
The former general manager of iProsperity has lost his challenge to the collapsed fund manager’s liquidators getting more time to investigate $18 million in payments he received, with the Full Court finding they were not wrong to prioritise investigations into $62.5 million in payments to Crown and The Star.
A class action against restaurant chain Fogo Brasilia and its law firm alleging franchisees were misled about the profitability of their businesses could be shut down, with the lead plaintiff unable to pay security for costs after the funder pulled out, a court has heard.