Judges were not afraid to vent their spleen in 2023, but lawyers were not the only object of judicial scorn last year, as judges waded into public discourse and sounded off over issues including complex legislation, media reports, famous social media commentators, and the involvement of government departments in legal proceedings.
Aged care provider Anglicare has hit back at a class action filed on behalf of 25 people whose loved ones died during a COVID-19 outbreak at the Newmarch House in Sydney, saying it owed no duty of care to prevent mental harm to its residents’ family members.
A court fight has broken out between a vaccine developer and South Australia’s Flinders University over the supply of mice and access to a lab at the college, with the professor’s lawyer declaring the battle “literally a matter of life and death”.
The country’s most experienced class action law firm won two and lost two in last year’s beauty parades before the courts, showing track record is not everything when it comes to winning carriage of cases and that picking the winner can be a tricky business. From line-ball decisions to law firm team-ups and the lowest contingency fee order yet, here’s how 2023’s class action contests went down.
Over three years into a class action against failed asset finance lender Axsesstoday and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers over a $50 million prospectus, the applicant has won the green light to add four insurers to the case.
Electric car giant Tesla has brought court proceedings against a NSW man seeking the removal of documents from the web, including material allegedly leaked by a former employee who recently raised concerns about the company’s self-driving software.
Atomos’ former US-based CEO — who was fired after she failed to relocate to Melbourne — has lost her fight to stay the video technology company’s lawsuit, with a judge finding the dispute over a bridging loan for the international move should be decided under Australian law.
A Network Ten executive received an angry phone call from former prime minister Scott Morrison’s chief media advisor after claims about the Liberal Party’s handling of Brittany Higgins’ alleged sexual assault were aired on The Project, new court documents reveal.
A former Commonwealth Bank manager alleging he was fired by the bank after raising concerns about being overworked says he was told “the job is the job” after a period of stress-related leave.
A Sanofi unit has lost its bid for more time to file a divisional application in relation to a hemophilia treatment, with an IP Australia delegate finding that a US lawyer’s mistaken belief about Australian patent law did not explain the company’s failure to make the application in time.