Judgment

Proceedings are capable of being determined by the act of filing a discontinuance, a judge has said in approving an application for the discontinuance of a class action over Fire Rescue Victoria’s COVID-19 risk management practices. 

The Fair Work Commission has found a farm worker was unfairly terminated for coming to work after a big night out, during which he consumed up to 15 drinks.

Sydney barrister Gina Edwards has been awarded $150,000 in damages in her defamation case over Channel Nine’s coverage of her battle for custody of famed social media pooch Oscar the cavoodle, with a judge finding she relied on a bad legal advice from a fellow barrister and genuinely believed she was Oscar’s co-owner.

A judge has ruled that media monitor Isentia did not infringe the copyright of Sky News, despite the “wholesale copying” of content for its government clients, because its actions were done for the “services of the Commonwealth or State”.

Several activist organisations will have to hand up communications with the Environmental Defenders Office over its unsuccessful challenge to the construction of a pipeline for Santos’ $5.6 billion Barossa gas project, as the energy giant mulls third-party costs orders against them. 

A judge has expressed concern that a “bizarre” last-minute settlement in a long-running case against the CFMEU could damage the public perception of the FWO as a model litigant, saying it could appear that the ombudsman treated some perpetrators as “more equal” than others. 

A subsidiary of hospitality giant Mantle Group has failed to set aside a Fair Work Commission decision finding it systematically underpaid employees and gave “knowingly false” evidence, with an appeals court refusing to find the decision gave rise to the appearance of bias.

Australians who sank $21.2 million into crypto firm NGS Crypto, including their retirement savings, may have been misled about the safety of their investments, according to an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

 Macquarie Bank has agreed to pay a $10 million fine in proceedings brought ASIC after the bank admitted that it failed to monitor third-party withdrawals, resulting in a financial adviser’s theft of $2.9 million.

A judge has signed off on a $16 million settlement in a class action against Dixon Advisory, but the funder of a competing case that was stayed after losing a beauty parade has earned a fragment of the $1 million it sought from the resolution sum.