Barristers

Melbourne craft beer producer Brick Lane Brewing Co has filed proceedings accusing three companies behind the zero carb Better Beer of ripping off its packaging in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.

A judge has rejected an “audacious” attempt by McMillan Shakespeare to recoup a surplus of funds left over after a $9.5 million class action settlement was distributed to registered group members.

The New South Wales Bar Association has lost an appeal seeking a financial penalty and a professional reprimand against a Sydney barrister for his “poorly judged, vulgar and inappropriate” behaviour, with an appeals court finding damage to his reputation and a hike in his insurance premium dwarfed any punishment it could dole out.

Beleaguered investment group Mayfair 101 will have to pay a $30 million penalty after a judge found a $12 million penalty proposed by ASIC was “insufficient”.

Ford has challenged its loss in a class action over its allegedly defective PowerShift transmissions, arguing group members who have had their cars repaired are not entitled to damages.

The lead applicant in a superannuation class action against two IOOF units has successfully appealed a decision that barred the case from proceeding under a carveout in Victoria’s Supreme Court Act forbidding class actions involving trust property.

The Morrison government has denied that it has any obligation to disclose climate change risks to investors of its sovereign bonds as it defends a world first class action alleging global warming is a material risk to the bond market.

Retail giant Cotton On has hit back at allegations of copyright infringement, highlighting the prevalence of copying in the fashion industry.

Payday lender Nimble has succeeded in blocking its largest shareholder from accessing company documents relating to an impending debt refinance, with a judge finding the company’s financial woes were due to COVID-19 and not improper conduct by management.

Law firm Maddocks has been ordered to pay more than $1.4 million in indemnity costs for “throwing good money after bad” in failing to consider a settlement offer in a negligence lawsuit over a client’s botched deal with Woolworths.