Judgment

A judge has rejected a law firm’s attempt to update its bid to run class actions against Hyundai and Kia, saying the changes were intended to net the firm a competitive advantage in an upcoming fight for carriage of the class actions and different in substance from its previous position.

A judge has rebuffed a developer’s bid to revive a $400 million lawsuit against an investor after it failed to comply with a guillotine order, saying it was not an adequate explanation that the firm of solicitors acting for it lacked the resources of the defendant’s Big Six outfit. 

An incorporated legal practice has lost its bid to recover costs for work done by its own solicitors while self-represented in a dispute with a former client, with the Full Federal Court finding that making an exception based on firm size would “revive an inequality before the law”.

Birkenstock has succeeded in securing trade mark protection for the shape of four of its shoes, a boon to the German shoe maker as it fights knock-offs of its popular sandals.

A judge has set aside a costs agreement between a Perth-based law firm and its client in a family law matter that culminated in a $87,000 bill, saying the agreement was “positively misleading” with respect to the applicable hourly rates.

A judge has tossed a contract claim brought against aircraft maintenance company Hawker Pacific by scorned subcontractor Cirrus RTPS, finding that a purported agreement surrounding a joint bid for services offered by the New Zealand Defence Force was not intended to be binding.

Former BitConnect national promoter John Louis Bigatton has been convicted for his role in marketing the online cryptocurrency platform, a global Ponzi scheme that reached a market capitalisation of $5 billion before its collapse.

Keybridge Capital chief executive officer Nicholas Bolton has lost his appeal of a costs review panel decision that saddled him with a legal bill of $308,940 for work done by Atanaskovic Hartnell for his company in a dispute with Brookfield Multiplex.

A judge has tossed an unconscionable conduct case against IT company IT&C, but declined to order costs against the individual applicant, citing his “many years of experience”, but no firm evidence, in support of a finding that the order would harm the man’s mental health.

Subcontractor EnerMech has won an appeal in its fight against Acciona over a $10 million progress payment for work on the Westconnex M4-M5 link, with an appeals court finding the question of whether EnerMech’s claim was a payment claim for construction work was a matter for an adjudicator, not the court.