The High Court majority’s reasoning in the decision nixing common fund orders at an early stage of a class action leads “inexorably and inevitably” to the conclusion that there is no power to make such an order at any time in a proceeding, counsel for 7-Eleven has told an appeals court.
Luxury car maker BMW has told the NSW Court of Appeal that the courts do not have power to make common fund orders at any stage of a group proceeding, arguing that such orders would distort the scope of the class action regime by encouraging litigation funders to pursue lawsuits.
A Sydney rabbi who told the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse that he did not know touching a child’s genitals was a crime has lost his appeal of a ruling throwing out defamation proceedings he brought against Nationwide News and SBS.
A judge due to hear a high profile appeal by Johnson & Johnson unit Ethicon has expressed confusion about the grounds on which the medical device maker is challenging a landmark judgment putting it on the hook for potentially hundreds of million of dollars in damages over faulty pelvic mesh implants.
A Sydney lawyer has lost her bid to vacate an upcoming hearing in her appeal of a judge’s finding that investors who sank $12.3 million into a fraudulent sports betting scheme run by convicted conman Peter Foster lost money because of her failure to come forward with the truth.
A judge has shot down Monster Energy’s opposition to Japanese software company Mixi registering the ‘Monster Strike’ trade mark in Australia for its popular video game of the same name, the second judge to find the energy drink maker’s standalone ‘Monster’ mark does not have a significant reputation in Australia.
Fintech Flexigroup has appealed rival Zip Co’s successful opposition to its ‘No Interest Ever!’ trade mark, which an IP Australia delegate found was a laudatory phrase incapable of distinguishing the goods of a single trader.
A history of serial offending by the CFMEU could be factored into a court’s finding on the gravity of later breaches of the Fair Work Act, but not to the extent that the union pays a disproportionate penalty, the Full Federal Court has found in a significant ruling that settles conflicting case law.
Qantas Airways will challenge a court’s finding that it incorrectly applied the JobKeeper scheme and underpaid its staff.
A judge has refused an application by the Federal Government to appeal the expansion of the Robodebt class action pleadings despite finding the case was “troubling”, “weak” and in certain aspects “[made] no sense whatsoever”.