Robert Dick

An appeals court has overturned a $16 million judgment against a law firm, finding it did not breach its duties when acting for a lender that provided financing to a client.

A class action over S&P’s rosy ratings on risky financial products faces a preliminary fight over the relevance of expert evidence that seeks to prove fraud on the part of the ratings agency.

Insurers have won a challenge to a declaration that engineering firm CIMIC could make claims under policies for costs arising from corruption cases, including a $32 million class action settlement.

McDonald’s has raised concerns about a “skewed” sample of employees for the initial trial in a class action alleging the fast food giant denied shift managers compensation for pre- and post-shift work.

In a win for ASIC, the Federal Court has found that non-bank lender Firstmac Limited breached the design and distribution obligations, introduced in 2021, by marketing a managed investment scheme that could be unsuitable for customers’ financial needs. 

A group member in a class action against Johnson & Johnson unit DePuy International has lost his bid to challenge his compensation determination 12 years after the case settled, with a judge finding that the independent counsel conducting the determination was not bound by the rules of procedural fairness.   

McDonald’s has hit back at a class action over alleged unpaid work done by managers before and after shifts, saying it paid more than the minimum entitlements and is entitled to set off those payments against claims for compensation. 

A judge is planning to consolidate an employee class action and a union case against McDonald’s, saying the union can take a payout from any settlement, similar to how a funder receives a commission. 

Newly released emails show a prominent silk describing Brittany Higgins’ refusal to assist Lisa Wilkinson’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou as “at the least unwise”, amid a dispute over the TV presenter’s decision to hire her own legal team in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case. 

A judge has found that Lisa Wilkinson acted reasonably in ditching Network Ten’s legal team in a defamation case brought by Bruce Lehrmann, noting the “distrust” between the presenter and her former employer as well as other matters, including a retainer Ten’s solicitors had with The Australian newspaper.