A judge has refused to approve Piper Alderman’s $3.5 million in legal fees charged for running a class action against KPMG, appointing Grant Thornton as contradictor and giving the auditor the ability to seek assistance from the court for any future disputes about the controversial bill.
A subsidiary of US mining giant Cleveland-Cliffs has won a fight to keep its counterclaim against a contractor alive in a dispute over the Koolyanobbing iron ore mine in Western Australia.
Mitsubishi Motors is facing a class action investigation over allegedly misleading Triton 4WD fuel consumption labels that were at the centre of an individual consumer case that resulted in a $40,000 refund.
The NRMA’s bid to restrain the maritime union’s campaign over the safety and employment standards of Sydney’s fast ferry services on the grounds that it violates IP and consumer laws is set to be fast tracked after a judge noted the “significant” case could raise freedom of speech issues.
Almost 7,000 disabled workers have been repaid $109 million in wages as part of a class action settlement distribution that has been called a “fitting end to an historic fight”.
Rival law firms Maurice Blackburn and Phi Finney McDonald will be allowed to work together without consolidating their separate shareholder class actions against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, after a judge ruled that the bank had overstated the potential for extra costs and delays.
The Federal Court has granted auto giant Ford’s request for the costs of an anti-suit injunction it sought in the PowerShift transmission class action that was ultimately unnecessary after the class was denied its bid to access discovery from similar proceedings in the United States.
The Queensland government has agreed to pay $190 million to resolve an historic class action on behalf of 10,000 Indigenous workers for unpaid wages spanning over 30 years.
British child safety product manufacturer Britax has lost its opposition to an Australian competitor’s patent for a lightweight child booster seat, after contradicting inventiveness claims made in its own application for a similar product.
Sherwood Chemicals wants to exterminate claims alleging it infringed two patents held by US chemical giant BASF for an underground termite control system, saying the patents were invalid and that any infringement, if it occurred, was innocent.