A judge has given the green light for HarperCollins to use several documents from a royal commission in its defence of defamation proceedings brought against it by two psychiatrists at the centre of the deep sleep therapy scandal that rocked the medical world in the 1960s and 70s.
Hong Kong-based casino group Melco Resorts has lost an application for special leave to the High Court to weigh in on a ruling that a NSW public inquiry into James Packer’s Crown Resorts had the power of a royal commission and could order privileged documents to be handed over.
Shine Lawyers and barrister David Turner have once again dodged a negligence lawsuit over advice given about a $630,000 contractual dispute, with an appeals court upholding an earlier decision dismissing a bid to join the two parties.
A judge has ordered WA-based Quantum Housing Group to pay $700,000 and its sole director another $50,000 after finding the company misled investors in the National Rental Affordability Scheme.
A Sydney-based law firm has been ordered to pay $1.4 million in damages for failing to properly advise a client of his rights under a partnership agreement after he suffered several strokes.
Domino’s is seeking to strike out portions of the “rolled up, confusing pleading” in a class action over alleged worker underpayments, saying the case cannot be brought under the consumer law.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will have to face trial in a defamation lawsuit brought by a Queensland building and mortgage company over two media releases the corporate regulator issued in 2018 and 2019, after defeating a separate $10 million defamation case last year.
The judge overseeing three class actions against the Commonwealth over its use of allegedly toxic firefighting foam, which have settled for $212.5 million, said backing by a litigation funder led to a better outcome for group members, who would otherwise have been in the disadvantaged position of “supplicants requesting compensation”.
A Sydney burger chain that was ordered to change its name after losing a trade mark lawsuit by popular American burger franchise In-N-Out has lost its request to stay the ruling, with a judge finding the company had “greatly exaggerated” the costs of the name switch, which she called “a new marketing opportunity”.
Court documents sought to be kept confidential in a case alleging professional misconduct against barrister Norman O’Bryan SC in his role as counsel for a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities accuse the top silk of continuing to have an interest in the funder that bankrolled the proceedings after his wife was said to have sold her shares.