A judge has discontinued a class action by Victorian councils against insurer JLT Risk Solutions, but has departed from the decisions of two other judges by ruling the suspension of the time limit for bringing the councils’ claims will immediately be lifted.
The country’s most experienced class action law firm won two and lost two in last year’s beauty parades before the courts, showing track record is not everything when it comes to winning carriage of cases and that picking the winner can be a tricky business. From line-ball decisions to law firm team-ups and the lowest contingency fee order yet, here’s how 2023’s class action contests went down.
A Network Ten executive received an angry phone call from former prime minister Scott Morrison’s chief media advisor after claims about the Liberal Party’s handling of Brittany Higgins’ alleged sexual assault were aired on The Project, new court documents reveal.
Lawyers for accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann have conceded his evidence on several issues was “lacking credibility”, but say the court should not find him a “compulsive liar” as argued by Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson in defending his defamation case.
On the final day of trial in Bruce Lehmann’s defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson, barrister for the former Liberal staffer told the court his colleague Brittany Higgins falsely accused him of rape to avoid being sacked.
A judge hearing the final day of Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial against Network Ten and presenter Lisa Wilkinson has expressed his doubt at the plausibility of the former Liberal staffer’s evidence that he was working on Question Time briefs at the time he allegedly raped Brittany Higgins.
Network Ten has argued that accused rapist Bruce Lerhmann’s evidence should be treated with “extreme suspicion” and rejected where it is not corroborated, as the judge overseeing Lehrmann’s defamation case against the broadcaster noted “real credit issues” with both Lehrmann and his accuser Brittany Higgins.
Accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann’s denial that he had any sexual contact with his former colleague Brittany Higgins was “quite disgraceful conduct”, the judge presiding over his defamation trial has heard.
A lip reading expert has given evidence of his interpretation of CCTV footage at a bar on the night Bruce Lehrmann allegedly raped Brittany Higgins, saying he “encouraged” her to finish drinks, a claim the former Liberal staffer has denied.
Senator Linda Reynolds’ former chief of staff Fiona Brown has told a court she refused directions from two ministers to make a report to federal police, saying Brittany Higgins had not yet alleged she was sexually assaulted by fellow Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann and that the ministers were “covering themselves”.