Perry Herzfeld

KPMG has won its application for the High Court to weigh in on the relevance of a contingency fee order in determining a bid to transfer a shareholder class action from Victoria to NSW.

Accounting firm KPMG has asked the High Court for a second time to weigh in on the relevance of a contingency fee order made in a Victoria Supreme Court class action to its bid to transfer the case to NSW.

The state of Queensland has urged the High Court to step in after a Federal Circuit and Family Court judge was held personally liable for a man’s false imprisonment.

A leading class action firm may seek compensation for those who were illegally detained after the High Court ruled that Australia’s system of holding individuals indefinitely in immigration detention is unlawful.

A man awarded $300,000 after he was unlawfully imprisoned for contempt has won his legal costs from the judge who jailed him. But a court has rejected his bid to recoup the costs paid to a damages expert in his case, finding he gave her “incomplete, inaccurate and unreliable” instructions.

The High Court has refused to throw out a personal injury case over 55-year-old child sexual abuse claims, despite the death of the alleged perpetrator and most relevant witnesses, saying a permanent stay is a “measure of last resort”. 

KPMG has lost the latest round in its fight to transfer a class action over the collapse of steel giant Arrium from Victoria to NSW, with an appeals court finding that a group costs order made in the case could not travel across the border.

The High Court will consider an exception to the general immunity of foreign states for the first time, as it hears an appeal of a decision which found Indonesia’s national airline could avail itself of foreign state immunity to defeat a winding up application.

A judge has allowed Care A2 Plus to proceed with an appeal arguing a US lawsuit by former business partner Gensco should be blocked, saying the infant formula company will otherwise face a “risk of substantial injustice”. 

Care A2 Plus should be given leave to appeal a ruling over an overlapping US case by former business partner Gensco so that it can file a challenge in the High Court if need be, a court has heard.