Barristers

An appeals court has dismissed an environmental advocacy group’s challenge to the extension of two Mach Energy and Whitehaven Coal mega coal mines in NSW, saying the current environmental laws are “ill-suited” to dealing with the global threat of climate change. 

Four insurers have agreed to fork over $1 million to settle an investor class action against lender Axsesstoday over an allegedly misleading prospectus for a bond offering, while claims against PricewaterhouseCoopers will move forward.

Billabong founder Gordon Merchant has lost his challenge to a decision by the ATO to increase his tax liability to $31 million, finding that he conducted a “wash sale” of his Billabong shares and engaged in dividend stripping on the sale of bio plastics manufacturer Plantic Technologies. 

A judge that tossed two shareholder class actions against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia has found the bank did not have to alert investors to the possibility of AUSTRAC proceedings, saying investors did not expect to be apprised of the “toings and froings” of regulatory investigations.

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”.

A judge has expressed concerns about the plaintiff’s proposed group costs order rate in a shareholder class action against fleet management company FleetPartners, saying the purpose of the GCO regime was to lower costs to group members.

A class action against ANZ and former subsidiary OnePath has been given the green light to “significantly expand” its case against the big four bank, over three years after the case was first filed.

Activist organisations are seeking to challenge orders to hand up communications with the Environmental Defenders Office in its failed case against Santos over the $5.6 billion Barossa gas project, arguing there was no legitimate forensic purpose for the material sought. 

Sky News has taken its fight with Isentia to the Full Federal Court, after a judge found the the media monitor was not liable for copyright infringement despite the “wholesale copying” of content distributed to government clients.

Optus has denied that it ‘cloaked’ the true dominant purpose of a Deloitte report into a major data breach in 2022, arguing on appeal that the report was privileged and that a class action should not have access to it.