In the third decision approving an unaltered group costs order at the resolution of a class action, a judge has OK’d an $85 million settlement by ANZ, representing a $21 million payday for Maurice Blackburn.
A judge has given the greenlight to a $10 million settlement with entities linked to late solicitor and Banksia class action mastermind Mark Elliott, noting the “perverse” difficulty of recovering more of the $70 million in assets held on trust.
Two conservation groups opposing Whitehaven Coal’s Winchester South coal mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin have won court approval to adduce late expert evidence on possible climate scenarios.
Melbourne developer SK Developments has won freezing orders against a builder, with a judge finding there was a danger that a $1.98 million judgment could be avoided.
A judge has stopped short of making costs orders against a law firm despite finding it was responsible for delays in a workplace discrimination suit.
A tribunal has found a company that scrapes court databases broke privacy laws by failing to remove a litigant’s name after charges against her were dropped, saying the public nature of court lists doesn’t make republication a “free for all”.
A judge has said ASIC should have known that its case against four TerraCom directors over statements made to investors had no prospects of success, calling one of its submissions “unworthy of the corporations regulator”.
A judge hearing a dispute over a lot in Victoria’s Merrifield Business Park has found that the Competition and Consumer Act’s bar on contracts that substantially lessen competition does not apply to a market in land.
A liquidator has opened his case over the alleged misuse of funds by now defunct Dyldam Developments, as the court hears of “oddities” in financial records and the spaghetti-like structure of 157 interrelated entities.
A judge has expressed his nervousness about a proposed notice to group members in a class action against Isuzu that warns them they may lose an entitlement to damages if they sell their alleged defective vehicles.