Trials

General Motors has been accused of having “carefully curated” its list of witnesses to avoid giving evidence about the car maker’s decision to stop supplying Holden-branded vehicles in Australia, as trial in a class action by Holden dealers kicks off.

Federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek’s decision to greenlight the expansion of two mega coal mines in NSW was contrary to findings by the “entire community of climate scientists around the globe”, a court has heard. 

On the first day of a seven-week trial, the applicant in a class action against Monsanto has taken aim at the agrochemical giant’s “same old approach” to undermining decades of evidence it says demonstrates the cancer-causing properties of popular weed killer Roundup.

A top orthopaedic surgeon and former NSW Australian of the year has argued in his defamation case against Nine that stories detailing his alleged negligence misled the public about medical issues and were the “opposite of public interest” journalism. 

Agrochemical giant Monsanto is digging in for a fight in a class action over its alleged carcinogenic weed killer, Roundup, having refused to budge in mediation despite a $16 billion settlement in the US.

A Queensland man has prevailed in his case alleging Federal Circuit and Family Court Judge Salvatore Vasta unlawfully imprisoned him for contempt after he failed to comply with an order for particulars, winning over $300,000 in damages.

A judge overseeing the defamation trial of former commando Heston Russell said he was “disturbed” by an ABC press release following the broadcaster’s decision to drop its public interest defence on the eve of trial, which was reinstated days later.

A judge hearing closing submissions in Heston Russell’s defamation case against the ABC has expressed “significant reservations” about evidence by the former commando and said that a “less than complete” story could still be protected under the new public interest defence.

A judge has questioned an ABC journalist who is the target of a defamation case by ex-commando Heston Russell if he should have treated a key source who another source called a “showpony” more cautiously while reporting on alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. 

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has defended its reporting of alleged war crimes in a defamation case by ex-commando Heston Russell, saying the debate over whether its stories were in the public interest “rises well above truth”.