Barristers

A judge has ruled legal challenges to orders requiring COVID-19 vaccines for certain workers in New South Wales are not exceptional enough to warrant the disclosure of cabinet documents, with the judge noting he did not think the state health minister’s orders made vaccines “mandatory”.

Thousands of emails have inundated the inbox of the judge overseeing legal challenges to the NSW health minister’s orders mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for certain workers, prompting a public warning against interfering with the administration of justice.

Logistics company GetSwift’s settlement of a shareholder class action will see group members share in $1.5 million cash plus access to further funds and revenue raised by the company over a three-year period.

Oil and gas producer Santos has successfully challenged the summary dismissal of its claim for recovery of more than $470 million paid to contractor Fluor Corporation in overhead costs incurred after the estimated completion date of gas hubs in the Surat Basin.

While acknowledging it was a ‘loaded’ word, a judge has rejected a bid by the federal government to edit out the word ‘stolen’ from a notice to members of the third stolen wages class action brought by Shine Lawyers.

A property developer suing law firm Sparke Helmore in a $1 million negligence suit has resisted a bid for $215,000 in security for costs made weeks ahead of a four-day hearing in the matter, calling the sum “excessive”.

Prosecutors have told a court they are nearing deals with a number of individuals accused of criminal charges in its cartel case against Vina Money Transfer.

Cases challenging the NSW government’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for the state’s police officers, teachers and healthcare workers are exceptional enough to warrant production by the government of documents presented to state cabinet before the public health order, a court has heard.

Personal lender ClearLoans has lost its bid to strike out claims in ASIC’s first case related to the COVID-19 pandemic after a judge found the regulator’s action, which accuses the lender of breaching the hardship provisions of the credit laws, was “sufficiently clear”.

A judge overstepped in throwing out a class action against two National Australia Bank units over alleged MySuper mismanagement because of a carveout in the Victorian Supreme Court Act which bars class actions involving trust property, an appeals court has heard.