Events

Former senator Rex Patrick has brought novel proceedings against the Attorney-General seeking access to letters concerning the 2020 “sports rorts” scandal and challenging the government’s policy of denying access to documents after a minister has changed jobs.

A class action against Aveo Group has settled for $11 million mid trial, with the law firm that brought the case expressing regret for any “distress or anxiety” it caused and acknowledging the retirement village provider’s contracts with residents were lawful. 

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has lost its bid to avoid producing documents to Bianca Rinehart and John Hancock after a judge rejected arguments the Rinehart children were abusing the court’s processes in a long-running dispute over ownership of a valuable mining tenement.

The Full Court has found that a policy exclusion applies in a dispute between Acciona Infrastructure and Ferrovial Construction and three insurers over coverage for loss and damage caused by heavy rainfall during the construction of the $695 million Pacific Highway in northern New South Wales.

A lawyer who represented murder suspect Henry Keogh has failed to secure payment of his professional fees out of an ex-gratia payment to Keogh from the South Australian government, after an appeals court found the contingency under his retainer never arose.

An investor class action has reached a settlement with four former directors of defunct Linchpin Capital, leaving only allegations against AIG Insurance, which is allegedly seeking to withdraw an admission that directors were insured under a D&O policy. 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Mazda have both lost their appeals in a case over the car manufacturer’s ‘appalling’ customer service, with three judges questioning the regulator’s decisions in how it ran the case.

The law firm that ran a class action over the 2009 Montara oil spill must compete to administer a $192.5 million settlement, with a judge saying a tendering process is consistent with the court’s “protective and supervisory role” in managing costs deducted from class action settlements.

The owners of Mother energy drinks and Vittoria Food & Beverage have both lost their challenges to each other’s ‘Motherland’ and ‘Mothersky’ trade marks and are considering taking the long-running stoush to the High Court. 

Construction company Richard Crookes plans to appeal a ruling which found the Security of Payment Act is available to insolvent builders to pursue debts under a deed of company arrangement, despite an amendment to the law preventing construction companies in liquidation from enforcing payment claims.