Events

Closing a class action trial over Sydney's $3 billion light rail, a lawyer for 3,500 small businesses told a judge Wednesday the NSW government had to show that building the tram network was a “reasonably necessary” addition to the city's transport options.

Trial in the battle of the buns has begun, with McDonald's laying out a case for why its rival's Big Jack burger infringes its trade mark, and Hungry Jack's firing back that consumers could not confuse its flame-grilled meal with the iconic Big Mac.

Santos has lost its challenge to a judge's decision to revoke approval for its $4.7 billion offshore gas project because Tiwi Islanders were not properly consulted about the project.

Developer JD Group has scored a partial win in its challenge to a damages award to a Melbourne couple over a “deliberately misleading” rendering of a $9.6 million apartment, with a judge saying the case showed the “inherent risk” in buying apartments off-the-plan.

Mineral exploration company Boart Longyear has been granted leave to appeal a finding that it infringed a patent for a mining tool, but it can't avoid a recall of its tools, with a judge saying its actions were “not uninformed or innocent”.

The wife of a billionaire developer has lodged an appeal seeking to suppress the affidavits of a tax official in a $272 million proceeding brought by the Australian Taxation Office.

Avant Insurance has lost its bid to challenge a ruling which put it on the hook for indemnifying a plastic surgeon in class action proceedings over allegedly botched breast augmentations at a defunct NSW clinic.

The High Court has agreed to hear prosecutors' appeal of a "manifestly inadequate" $1.35 million penalty against an engineering firm for bribing foreign officials in Vietnam to secure $10 million in infrastructure contracts.

The High Court has turned down the appeal of the former Blue Star Helium CEO who was hit with a $40,000 penalty and four-year ban after the company failed to disclose to shareholders the identity of the buyer behind a botched sale of Texas oil assets.

Businesses bringing a class action over Sydney's $3 billion light rail project are pursuing a bold new claim that the NSW government pay not only for damages related to their nuisance claims, but for the 40 percent commission the litigation's funder wants from a post-trial judgment.