A Melbourne orthopaedic clinic has lost its bid to register the name ‘Melbourne Bone and Joint Clinic’ as a trade mark, with a judge finding the phrase was just an ordinary combination of words.
A judge has signed off on a 27.5 per cent group costs order in a consolidated shareholder class action against Medibank over a cyberattack that affected 10 million customers, noting the “significant risk” taken on by the two plaintiff law firms running the action.
A judge has signed off on a bill that brings the total settlement administration costs in a class action against Johnson & Johnson unit De Puy to over $13 million, amid a push by some judges to open the settlement administration gig up to competition.
Russia’s largest aluminium producer UC Rusal has lost a breach of contract lawsuit brought against six Rio Tinto companies after they refused to deliver alumina under a joint venture agreement on the basis that doing so would cause them to run afoul of export sanctions imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine.
A judge has reluctantly hit Westpac with a $1.8 million penalty after the bank admitted to unconscionable conduct when trading on the morning of a $16 billion deal to privatise electricity provider Ausgrid, saying it was the maximum fine allowed under the relevant law.
The current owners of vitamin giant Nature’s Care have won an urgent injunction against the company’s founding family, after a judge said it appeared they were trying to regain control of the corporate group.
A judge has dismissed a franchisee class action against the Hog’s Breath Cafe restaurant chain after the lead applicants failed to hand over $1.23 million in security for costs.
A judge has refused to retroactively approve a conditional costs agreement between a liquidator and a Sydney law firm to pursue claims against a former director and employee of defunct project management firm AJW, rejecting as misconceived the claim that approval had utility only after a settlement.
A letter by King & Wood Mallesons was an unjustifiable threat of patent litigation against car accessories company Clearview, as was an announcement by the firm’s client MSA, but MSA’s director cannot be held liable as a joint tortfeasor under the Patents Act, a judge has found.
Two former directors of a Canberra property development group have lost their bid to bar ASIC from announcing their disqualification, with a tribunal finding this would keep financiers and creditors “in the dark” and make the market less transparent.