Judgment

The French association representing wine producers from Champagne has discontinued its lawsuit against an Australian retailer after it agreed to only use seed extract from the Champagne region of France. 

In a win for ASIC, the Federal Court has found that non-bank lender Firstmac Limited breached the design and distribution obligations, introduced in 2021, by marketing a managed investment scheme that could be unsuitable for customers’ financial needs. 

The Fair Work Commission has ruled that an electrician with BlueScope Steel was unfairly dismissed following a complaint by a coworker who did not give evidence to the commission, finding that it was “abundantly unfair” for the complaint to be advanced as hearsay evidence.

An appeals court has rejected a challenge by a woman who said she was given negligent advice by her lawyers about two settlement offers which she rejected, finding that she would not have taken advice to accept the offers in any case.

A judge has ordered Seven West-owned publication The West Australian to pay a former public servant $180,000 in damages over an article about an allegation of fraud that had “a sensationalist overtone”.

The Dietitians Association of Australia can’t register a logo featuring the words ‘accredited nutritionist’ as a trade mark, with a delegate agreeing with a competing nutritionist group that the association should not have a monopoly over the highly descriptive term.

Lawyers are allowed to take a cut from a class action settlement or judgment under a so-called solicitors’ common fund order, the Full Federal Court has ruled, saying they are a permissive use of the court’s power.

A unit of petrol store chain EG Australia has sued Ashurst and LegalVision alleging they breached their implied duty of care through advice given to Woolworths about the assignment of a disputed Sydney petrol station lease.

A group member in a class action against Johnson & Johnson unit DePuy International has lost his bid to challenge his compensation determination 12 years after the case settled, with a judge finding that the independent counsel conducting the determination was not bound by the rules of procedural fairness.   

Santos has largely succeeded in its bid for documents from the Environmental Defenders Office and expert witnesses in a failed case challenging the construction of the oil and gas company’s $5.6 billion Barossa pipeline.