Judgment

A barrister who had a “close personal relationship” with a judge presiding over her case has been suspended and fined $10,000, after the High Court ruled their communications gave rise to the appearance of bias and justified recusal. 

A judge has given a poor prognosis to the eSafety Commissioner’s case seeking to have X Corp remove posts that depict a stabbing of a bishop at a Sydney church,  calling it an alarming and unreasonable attempt to exert control over activities abroad.

A former capital partner at HWL Ebsworth has lost his argument that he remained in the firm’s partnership until last month, after a judge found he was invalidly expelled in 2020. 

A judge has refused to issue a further injunction against X Corp in proceedings by the eSafety Commissioner seeking the removal of posts that depict a stabbing at a Sydney church after raising concerns the order could become an “object of ridicule”. 

A former senior manager at Deloitte terminated for alleged inappropriate conduct in the workplace has lost her bid to bring an unfair dismissal claim out of time, despite the Fair Work Commission finding her case had merit.

A Canberra massage parlour that systematically underpaid, intimidated and exploited migrant workers, including by threatening to kill their family members if they complained, has been hit with a $1 million penalty. 

Slater & Gordon has won the court’s nod to be separately represented at an upcoming settlement approval hearing where it will seek a $12.8 million group costs order for running a shareholder class action against G8 Education.

A judge has refused to allow a female pilot to bring claims that Qantas engaged in sex discrimination because it had a culture that was “hostile to women”, saying that while the ‘vibe’ of a claim might suffice in the court of public opinion, it could not survive in a court of record.

International fugitive Jean Nassif, who headed troubled property developer Toplace, has lost his bid to reinstate defamation proceedings against Harbour Radio and 2GB host Ray Hadley, with a judge saying there was no evidence he would return to Australia to prosecute the case. 

A request to a female senior engineer for WSP to “get the coffees” during a client meeting did not amount to gender-based harassment, the Fair Work Commission has found in rejecting the engineer’s unfair dismissal claim.