Media mogul Bruce Gordon says a costs dispute with Atanaskovic Hartnell should be paused until the High Court has its say on a key issue.
The High Court has agreed to hear a case with implications for law firms that represent themselves in litigation, granting an appeal application by media mogul Bruce Gordon, a former client of Sydney firm Atanaskovic Hartnell.
A former Atanaskovic Hartnell client is seeking special leave to challenge a judgment from the NSW Court of Appeal that found self-represented law firms can recover costs for work done by their own solicitors, urging the High Court to intervene to clarify a judgment eliminating the so-called Chorley exception.
The NSW Court of Appeal has issued a judgment contradicting a finding from its Victorian counterpart, ruling that law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell can recover costs for work done by its own solicitors in a lawsuit against a former client in which the firm represented itself.
The authorised representative of forex broker Union Standard can’t exclude parts of an opinion by an ASIC-appointed expert in a case alleging it traded in margin products with Chinese clients despite knowing it was illegal under Chinese law.
An appeals court has upheld a finding that an unsuccessful class action over the Carwoola bushfire was not entitled to recovery from the insurers of the plumbing company that sparked the blaze.
Following the lead of its Victorian counterpart, the NSW Supreme Court has found that law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell cannot recover costs in self-represented litigation against a former client over unpaid legal invoices.
Payouts in class actions in 2020 largely kept pace with the previous year despite the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, with companies and other defendants paying more than $696 million to settle class actions last year.
A NSW council has agreed to fork over $16 million to settle a class action over a 2009 rubbish tip fire, after the High Court declined to hear the council’s challenge to a ruling that found it was responsible for the damage caused by the fire.
The High Court has cleared the way for victims of a rubbish tip fire that tore through 17,000 acres of farmland in the NSW Riverina to claim more than $20 million in damages in a class action, after rejecting an appeal bid by the local council.