Judgment

A tribunal has found a Sydney solicitor guilty of professional misconduct after finding he sent numerous emails that contained profane language and were condescending to a Mills Oakley solicitor during a dispute involving his mother-in-law.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has lost its bid to pursue a disciplinary case against former Grant Thornton director Bradley Taylor over his 2018 audit of fintech firm iSignThis while criminal proceedings are ongoing.

A judge has cut law firm Levitt Robinson’s costs in a class action against retirement village provider Aveo, finding the solicitors were “seriously derelict” in serving their evidence on loss and ran up over $1 million in avoidable costs.

The NSW Court of Appeal has issued a judgment contradicting a finding from its Victorian counterpart, ruling that law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell can recover costs for work done by its own solicitors in a lawsuit against a former client in which the firm represented itself.

A Sydney concert promoter has lost his appeal against former Nine unit TEG Live, with an appeals court agreeing that his idea to promote a 2013 Australian tour by English-Irish boy band One Direction was not ‘unique’ enough to be confidential information. 

Automotive electronics company Directed Electronics has won a $168.5 million award after a judge found its former manager and South Korean giant Hanhwa engaged in a “reprehensible” trade secrets theft.

In a victory for Zurich Australia, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has lost its first-ever civil penalty case alleging an insurer failed to act with utmost good faith during claims handling.

Billionaire Kerry Stokes has lost his challenge to paying in lump sum Fairfax’s legal fees in defending Ben Roberts-Smith’s failed defamation case over war crimes allegations, having argued for an itemised bill after the Seven West Media chair agreed to foot the costs on an indemnity basis.

A judge has dismissed a securities class action against Insignia Financial, formerly known as IOOF, in the second judgement in two days to find no loss to shareholders.

A judge has approved a 24 per cent group costs order in a consolidated class action against a2 Milk, noting the complexity of the claims against the dairy giant and saying a GCO would align the class action lawyers’ interests with group members’.