While it was unfair for a judge to pick Gilbert + Tobin to run a class action against Jaguar Land Rover on the condition that it lower its funding rate, the judge was entitled to consider the law firm’s experience in a similar case against Toyota, an appeals court has said in its reasons.
A class action against Toyota alleging it installed diesel defeat devices in several models of its vehicles has lost a bid to access source code for the cars’ emissions control systems, with a judge finding it was not relevant to any current fact in issue.
The chair of the Medibank board has given evidence that he engaged King & Wood Mallesons to commission expert reviews in the wake of a cyberattack, including three reports by Deloitte, after hearing rumours of class action investigations in October 2022.
In a continuing fight over damages stemming from misleading burger ads, McDonald’s has opposed production of sales information to Hungry Jack’s directors and its top executive, saying the information was confidential and the companies “fierce competitors”.
ANZ has resolved a case brought by the bank’s former head of money markets, who claims he was fired for making complaints about sexual harassment by senior managers and false reporting to APRA.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has brought proceedings against Optus over a September 2022 data breach that comprised the data of up to 10 million customers, the first lawsuit filed by a regulator following a string of major cyberattacks over the past two years.
A court has imposed an interim injunction on a former Samsung Electronics business manager, restraining him from taking a similar role with rival Electrolux until a case alleging breach of post-employment restraints is heard.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is facing a lawsuit by the executor of a deceased estate alleging the accounting firm gave negligent advice and acted with a conflict of interest while advising on tax liabilities for the deceased’s $100 million in assets.
Supporting KPMG’s bid to move a class action over the collapse of Arrium from Melboure to Sydney, former directors of the failed steel company have told the High Court the Victoria Supreme Court was impermissibly preferring the policy of its state in finding a contingency fee order made in the case could be factored into a transfer application.
Qantas argues it has “no legal responsibility” to compensate baggage handlers who, the High Court has found, the airline unlawfully sacked and replaced with contractors, partly to prevent them from engaging in industrial action.