A court has tossed a lawsuit by Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy against ASIC, calling it an “ill-disguised collateral attack” against the regulator over criminal proceedings against the billionaire mining magnate over $12 million in payments made to his political party in 2013.
The Australian Energy Regulator has taken energy retailer Origin Energy to court for allegedly breaching its commitments to financially vulnerable customers, including by disconnecting the service of some who were on a payment plan.
Herbert Smith Freehills this week escaped a cross-claim that its advice made it liable for the alleged losses of Arrium’s lenders, but the judge who tossed the claim along with the banks’ cases expressed doubts about one of the law firm’s key arguments, a warning to other firms caught up in litigation as so-called concurrent wrongdoers.
US-based chemical and materials technology company Cytec Industries has won its Federal Court challenge to a mining patent application by a unit of Ecolab, with the court finding the claims in the patent lacked support and sufficient disclosure.
Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has avoided a discovery order that would cost an estimated $3 million to comply with, with a judge instead ordering that limited discovery be given to two Rinehart children in an ongoing family dispute over titles for the Hope Down iron ore mine.
Three Clive Palmer-owned companies have filed a breach of trust lawsuit against HWL Ebsworth, funder Vannin Capital and the liquidators of Queensland Nickel attempting to recoup $102 million transferred after the billionaire suffered a courtroom defeat earlier this year.
Auctus Resources will not be able to hang on to a $2.3 million R&D tax offset refund which the Full Court found was paid by mistake, after the High Court turned down its special leave application.
A BP worker who was awarded $201,000 after he was unlawfully dismissed for sharing a Hitler parody video has lost his bid for $51,000 in costs from his employer and law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
A court has ruled that labour hire firm CoreStaff cannot rely on its professional indemnity insurance to cover judgment against it in an employment class action alleging itmisled workers who relocated from Papua New Guinea to Australia for work.
A Federal Court judge has criticised the liquidators of coal mining company Delta for waiting over two years to file insolvent trading proceedings against former directors when the same issues of solvency had already been raised in two other cases.