Events

The NSW Independent Planning Commission’s decision to approve an extension for Whitehaven’s Narrabi coal mine was “legally illogical” amid current knowledge of the “extraordinary and deadly” impact of climate change, a court has heard.

The High Court has thrown out laws that banned unions and other third parties from spending more than $20,000 on political campaigns ahead of a New South Wales state election in March.

The High Court killed off all common fund orders, not just the kind sought at the start of a class action, a judge has said as he cut in half the payout for a litigation funder bankrolling two franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven.

A judge has blessed a law firm’s $16.6 million legal bill for running two franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven despite a contradictor’s argument that it had a “troubling” practice of deferring its fees to benefit the funder that bankrolled the cases. 

The law firm running the Montara oil spill class action, which has settled for $192.5 million, is looking for a new lead applicant after the first one defected over concerns group members would lose half the settlement amount to legal costs and a funding commission.

Asset Energy has won Federal Court review of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s decision not to grant a two-year extension of a controversial offshore exploration license, after the government conceded that Morrison’s decision was “infected by apprehended bias.”

An anti-lockdown protester has lost her appeal of a decision dismissing her legal challenge to Victoria’s stay-at-home orders, with an appeals court finding the reduction in risk to public health “outweighed” impacts on freedom of speech.

US tool giant Illinois Tool Works has defeated an appeal to a ruling that found Australian tool company Airco infringed it patent for a fuel cell designed for use in combustion tools.

The founding director of Perth-based exploration company Legacy Iron Ore Limited has been hit with a suspended sentence of three years imprisonment for stealing over $720,000 from the company.

Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel and three other Palmer-related entities have been ordered to pay $44.5 million (US$30.8 million) to litigation funder Vannin Capital for defaulting on a loan for a private jet.