Appeals

The tax office has asked the High Court to overturn a decision which found that payments made by Asahi Breweries-owned Schweppes to PepsiCo under agreements to sell brands such as Pepsi and Mountain Dew in Australia were not subject to a royalty withholding tax. 

The High Court has agreed to step in to resolve division among Australia's courts on the question of power to make orders that exclude unregistered group members from class action settlements.

The High Court has taken up the ACCC's boycott case against builder J Hutchinson and the controversial construction union, an appeal that gives the court the chance to clarify the standard for proving an anti-competitive arrangement.

A class action has lost its appeal to the High Court in a case alleging Advanta Seeds owed damages to farmers for the economic loss resulting from its negligence in producing contaminated grain sorghum seed, with the justices clarifying that a duty of care may be established only if responsibility is assumed.

The Full Court is set to weigh in on whether judges who make adverse findings on credibility during the liability phase of a hearing should recuse themselves from determining penalty, an issue which a judge has said may require a new court protocol.

The High Court has been asked to overturn a Full Court decision finding lawyers can take a cut from a class action settlement under a solicitors’ common fund order and to finally settle the question of whether the court has the power to issue common fund orders at all.

The Queensland Court of Appeal has knocked back a challenge by jailed investment guru Dr Roger Munro to his conviction on three counts of fraud, which landed him a four-and-a-half month prison sentence.

An appeals court has knocked back builder Hanssen’s attempt to dodge a decade-old dispute over repairs to one of its residential buildings on constitutional grounds, saying the Perth company's argument would precipitate an “extraordinary” result if accepted.

A judge has set aside a decision upholding misconduct findings against a former Australian National University PhD student, who was concerned the decision could affect his career prospects in the law.