Judgment

A judge has approved a $41.45 million settlement in a pelvic mesh class action against manufacturers Covidien and TFS but has put off deciding on the costs of the firm that ran the case, saying it is “next to useless” when law firms appoint their own costs consultants.

The maker of Mother energy drinks has won an appeal of an IP Australia decision, succeeding in its bid to prevent a Victoria-based company from registering Kangaroo Mother as a trade mark for beverages.

An environment group that alleges former treasurer Josh Frydenberg rejected advice from the climate change office on a high-rise apartment development on protected wetlands near Brisbane has won access to correspondence about the project.

Pitcher Partners has lost its appeal of a decision that refused to stay a lawsuit over the accounting firm’s alleged involvement in race car driver Max Twigg’s misappropriation of $127 million from his family. 

Former G8 Education chair Jennifer Hutson has lost an appeal of a decision that found she was not unlawfully examined by the corporate regulator over the childcare company’s $162 million hostile takeover bid for Affinity Education Group.

A shareholder class action that was filed in the wake of the banking royal commission over AMP’s fees-for-no-service practices has settled for $110 million. 

A Deloitte partner has brought legal action against a Sydney builder over variations to a $1.5 million contract to renovate his house in the waterfront suburb of Balmain, claiming the increases were meant as “cash support” for the construction business. 

Novartis has lost its bid to have Pharmacor’s claim that its patent for a blood pressure drug is invalid decided ahead of a main trial where the Swiss pharmaceutical giant will allege the generic drug maker is threatening to infringe its patent. 

ASIC has lost its challenge to findings that a revenue sharing arrangement between the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and former subsidiary Colonial First State Investments did not breach conflicted remuneration provisions of the Corporations Act.

Two class actions against Victorian aged care providers on behalf of families of residents who died due to alleged failures during the COVID-19 pandemic have appealed a ruling that rejected their bid for insurance and financial information to assist in mediation.