Judgment

A Sydney law firm and its principal have been fined $14,400 for disobeying a Fair Work Ombudsman compliance notice issued for the alleged underpayment of a paralegal, with a judge saying the lawyer’s belief she did not owe any wages was “unreasoned and unreasonable”. 

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has won a travel ban against a former director of collapsed cryptocurrency platform Blockchain Global while the regulator investigates suspected criminal offences. 

The Bureau of Meteorology has appealed a judgment that found a former senior executive was unfairly fired after taking a business-class trip to Paris.

A judge has found that an orthopaedic surgeon’s second bid to uncover a journalist’s confidential sources in defamation proceedings against Nine is an abuse of process in light of an earlier ruling that found the sources’ identities were protected by journalists’ privilege.

A judge has dismissed a bid by Medibank to restrain the Office of Australian Information Commissioner from proceeding with a class action-style complaint on behalf of millions of the private health insurer’s customers affected by an October 2022 data breach.

The ACCC’s decision to block a $4.9 billion merger between ANZ and Suncorp has been set aside, with a tribunal finding the transaction will not substantially lessen competition in the home loans market or for agribusiness and SME clients in Queensland. 

A judge has ordered Seven Network to pay $35,000 to a man who said he was defamed by the broadcaster, finding that he “spat towards” but not at the alleged rape victim of rugby league footballer Jarryd Hayne. 

National Australia Bank has lost its bid to shield a case by a Melbourne gold bullion dealer after a judge said one of the bank’s arguments for suppression had “the air of a Kafka novel”.

The current owners of vitamin giant Nature’s Care have lost a bid to extend an urgent injunction against the company’s founding family amid fears they were trying to regain control of the corporate group, with a judge finding the family may faced oppressive conduct themselves.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has won its underpayments case against restaurant chain Sushi Bay and its director, with a judge finding the company forced migrant workers to pay back their entitlements in cash in a “calculated and institutional effort” to conceal wrongdoing.