The federal Minister for the Environment has lost a bid to declass a class action brought over climate change risks from an expansion of the Whitehaven coal mine, with a judge making a declaration that the government owes a duty to all Australian children to protect them from global warming.
A $400 million class action brought by Shine Lawyers against a major Telstra and Foxtel contractor will be stayed after the company was placed into administration three months out from trial.
The High Court on Friday denied special leave to three unions representing Qantas workers that sought to challenge a Federal Court ruling for the airline in a dispute over the operation of last year’s COVID-19 JobKeeper wage subsidy.
Class actions are the next battleground following Thursday’s Federal Court ruling that the government owes a duty of care to protect children from the risks of climate change, according to a number of legal experts.
The federal Minister for the Environment owes a duty of care to children who could suffer “catastrophic” harms from increased greenhouse gas emissions that would result from approving the expansion of Whitehaven’s Vickery coal mine, a judge has ruled.
A judge has found that news articles published in the Herald Sun, Daily Mail and The Australian may have given group members in a class action against a Telstra contractor the āwrong impressionā that they would be exposed to a cross-claim if they failed to opt out.
An accountant who was kicked out of an Australia and New Zealand accounting association after a court found he sexually harassed a colleague has failed to win readmission after being unable to find an eligible member who could vouch for him in a character reference.
An opt out notice proposed to be given to group members in an underpayment class action against a unit of labour hire firm Tandem has been criticised by a judge as skewed to details of their exposure to cross-claims by the company.
The Federal Government has argued a class action against the expansion of a northern NSW mine has “conspicuously failed” to show that the emissions would contribute to “catastrophic harm”, but a judge has questioned the Commonwealth’s contention that other countries would be responsible for the emissions.
Trial kicked off Tuesday in a landmark class action brought by teenagers seeking to halt the expansion of a Whitehaven coal mine in NSW, with the barrister for the teens arguing catastrophe was likely if the expansion was blessed by the Federal Minister for the Environment.