Brendan Lim

Class closure orders are “anathema” to the purpose of group proceedings in facilitating access to justice and should never be ordered, the High Court has been told.

Santos’ plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 was “little more than a series of speculations”, a shareholder group has said on the first day of trial in a landmark greenwashing case.

The applicants in a class action against Lendlease have found common ground with the construction giant in High Court submissions, both arguing for power to make class closure orders.

The High Court has agreed to step in to resolve division among Australia’s courts on the question of power to make orders that exclude unregistered group members from class action settlements.

Lendlease, which is facing claims by a former Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills partner over its alleged “aggressive taxation position”, has failed in its bid for orders that evidence of the partner’s alleged loss be filed before mediation.

Lendlease has hit back at a lawsuit by a former Greenwoods & Freehills partner who alleged he was sacked for complaining about the company’s “aggressive taxation position”, claiming the partner reached out after he left the firm welcoming the chance to work with the company again.

A New South Wales developer’s competition case against NSW Ports over a ports privatisation agreement looks bound for the High Court after a judge found a related ACCC proceeding did not bar it from bringing the case, which will challenge a Full Court finding that the ports operator was shielded by derivative Crown immunity.

The High Court has been asked to overturn a NSW Court of Appeal decision finding it had no power to exclude unregistered group members from a settlement, which conflicted with Federal Court precedent, hearing the divergence of the important issue “can only be resolved by the High Court”.

The Commonwealth can be held criminally responsible for damage to First Nations sacred sites in the Northern Territory, the High Court has unanimously found in a case over construction damage to Gunlom Falls in Kakadu National Park.

The NSW Court of Appeal has said it has no power to exclude group members who do not sign up to a class action from participating in a settlement, upholding a controversial decision that the Full Federal Court said was “plainly wrong”.