Paul Moorhouse

A judge has railed against late submissions in a lawsuit by Super Retail Group’s former chief legal officer, calling the tardiness “inconceivable” after he “bent over backwards” to expedite the proceedings in an effort to curb costs.

Publishing reasons for refusing an application by Super Retail Group to redact parts of its former chief legal officer’s case, a judge has called out the practice of “extensive” suppression applications despite the exhortations of courts that justice must be open.

Super Retail Group has lost a bid to suppress parts of a case by former chief legal officer and company secretary Rebecca Farrell, who says she was sacked in May following complaints of corporate goverance issues, as a second senior employee steps up to back her former colleague’s claims.

Super Retail Group has made a bid to disqualify the solicitors of its former chief legal officer, who has sued the company to enforce an alleged settlement. But the Rebel Sport owner may have to defend a duelling application to disqualify its own solicitors, from Big Six firm Allens.

Super Retail Group’s former chief legal officer Rebecca Farrell says the company damaged her professional standing as a senior solicitor and exposed her to the risk of regulatory investigation and enforcement action.

A judge has temporarily suppressed details of a lawsuit by Super Retail Group’s former top lawyer, but he warned the retailer it would face a high bar if it sought to persuade him to keep the claims under wraps after a first case management hearing.

A judge has declined to order costs against basketball coach Shane Heal in his failed Fair Work case against the Sydney Flames, saying Heal’s claims were not “advanced without any factual or legal basis”.

A judge is considering the extraordinary step of ordering costs against basketball coach Shane Heal in his failed Fair Work case against the Sydney Flames, saying the case was “very much on the margin” of constituting an exception to the no-costs rule. 

A judge has rejected claims by basketball coach Shane Heal that the Sydney Flames used bullying complaints from several players as a ‘smoke screen’ to hide unlawful reasons for suspending him last year.

Emails exchanged during a bullying investigation into former basketball great Shane Heal must be shared, a judge has found, as the Sydney Flames coach battles to protect his reputation and his employment with the WNBL club.