Barristers

The peak body for community legal centres argues a case over alleged cookie cutter legal advice should be stripped of class action status, citing a recent judgment in a case against a Victorian law firm, but a judge noted there may be significant differences. 

The former director of a private equity firm has been allowed to advance a claim that she was unlawfully booted from the company, after a judge described communication about her firing as "unhelpfully vague".

Mid-trial amendments to a class action over Victoria Police use of pepper spray on environmental protesters in 2019 claim officers deployed the spray knowing and intending that it would harm the activists.

A lawyer accused of trying to blackmail personal injury firm Maliganis Edwards Johnson has won a challenge to an injunction, with a judge finding the blackmail allegation was more nuanced than conveyed by the Canberra firm. 

A former chief of staff to Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has resolved her case alleging she was forced out after complaints of bullying.

Payday lender Sunshine Loans has lost an appeal after it was ruled liable for “wrongheaded” conduct, with an appeals court finding that counsel showed an “egregious failure” to confine the case to the real issues. 

The funder that backed a shareholder class action against engineering firm CIMIC that settled for $45.25 million will take a cut to its 25 per cent commission, but wants the court to find the commission would otherwise have been reasonable. 

The federal government has launched a cross-claim against private security companies G4S and ACM in a class action on behalf of asylum seekers held in two immigration detention centres in South Australia.

Family-owned real estate group Coronis has successfully challenged the tax office on a $5 million alleged shortfall, with a judge finding service fees paid to two companies in the group were deductible.  

A judge has refused a late-stage bid to strike out Brisbane Airport's lawsuit against lessee AirServices Australia claiming $17.3 million in damage from PFAS contamination caused by its use of firefighting foam.