Barristers

The Australian Federal Police will investigate concerns that restricted material produced during the criminal trial of accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann was leaked to select media outlets.

A litigation funder that bankrolled a photographer’s unsuccessful copyright claim against CoreLogic has appealed a ruling ordering if to pay indemnity costs to the property data analytics company.

The judge weighing the legal costs sought to be deducted from a $300 million settlement in pelvic mesh class actions against Johnson & Johnson has questioned Shine Lawyers’ bid to make group members pay $32 million in interest incurred on a loan the firm took out at “credit card” rates.

A shareholder class action against KPMG and the directors of defunct mining company CuDeco is seeking insurance information and a limited number of documents from the directors ahead of mediation, to avoid a “train wreck” of a case, a court has heard.

Skincare giant L’Oreal has lost the rights to use a 23-year-old trade mark for branding some of its products, after a competitor successfully campaigned IP Australia to strike it from the register for non-use. 

A judge has avoided a fight “with the High Court written all over it” over whether an investor class action against Blue Sky Alternative Investments and auditor EY can join four insurers to the case.

Wealth management firm Colonial First State has lost its bid to shield emails with internal counsel about investment options for its FirstChoice super fund after a judge found a class action applicant had joint legal professional privilege.

The Australian Taxation Office has won a long-running case over an international tax evasion scheme by a company linked to the Binetter family after uncovering evidence showing earlier judgments were secured by fraud.

A former PricewaterhouseCoopers client who is suing the accounting firm over the $88 million sale of wholesale food company Hudson Pacific to Retail Food Group in 2016 has agreed to keep a Melbourne property off the market, but the company has not ruled out a bid for security for costs.

A regional law firm has lost its bid to bar a former employee from opening a rival practice within a 50 kilometre radius of its offices while its case is ongoing, with a judge saying the case raised a “real issue” of reasonableness, especially in light of a lawyer shortage in the town.