Judgment

A judge has ordered the lead applicant in a failed class action against Queensland utilities Stanwell and CS Energy, which was slated to be worth $1 billion, to pay $32.4 million in costs.

The owners corporation for an apartment complex in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda has lost its adverse possession claim over a tennis court mostly located on adjoining land, with a judge finding their use of the property was subject to a lease. 

Builder Leda Constructions has lost its bid for injunctions that would prevent the principal in a $4 million building contract from calling on two bank guarantees worth $101,553 each. 

A judge has ordered Australian Unity to pay a $7.1 million penalty in ASIC proceedings alleging it pumped more than $9.5 million into a risky mortgage scheme without properly vetting investors. 

A tribunal has refused to terminate a lease for a dairy farm in Raleigh, NSW and declined to order $500,000 in compensation over claims the tenants are responsible for deterioration in the property, including the “uncontrolled infestation” of a noxious weed. 

A judge has allowed a shareholder class action over the collapse of asset manager Blue Sky to bring insider trading claims against several short sellers, as well as brokers Credit Suisse and Argonaut Securities. 

A judge has ordered ANZ to pay $250 million in penalties in four cases by ASIC – $10 million more than the bank had agreed to pay – saying ANZ had "substantially deceived” the government by overstating bond trading volumes.

Plus500 has lost its bid to permanently stay a class action by investors who lost money trading in highly leveraged financial products, with a court finding that the arbitration clause relied on by the online trader was unfair and void.

Law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell can't appeal a stay of a costs order in its dispute with media mogul Bruce Gordon, with an appeals court saying disputes fuelled by their “mutual animus” should not be encouraged. 

A Sydney developer has successfully challenged a decision which rejected its plans to demolish a 32-room boarding house for the construction of four luxury residences in Paddington, with a judge calling the decision "personal and idiosyncratic".