Billionaire Clive Palmer cannot defend the truth of alleged defamatory imputations that Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan tried to “cover up” criminal acts and was “corrupt”, the premier’s barrister has told the court.
A unit of telecommunications contractor Tandem has lost an appeal in its fight over the validity of a sham contracting class action by technicians alleging they were misclassified as contractors and wrongly denied benefits.
The High Court has granted special leave to labour hire company WorkPac to challenge a Full Court judgment that granted entitlements to casual workers with regular shifts.
A Sydney-based solicitor has hit News Corp with a defamation lawsuit over two Daily Telegraph articles relating to his divorce with artist Agnes Bruck that allegedly implied he was “ravaged by age and deafness” and thus unfit to practice law.
In an important ruling that confines the scope of “industrial activity” under the Fair Work Act, the Full Federal Court has overturned a $50,000 fine against the CFMEU and two officials for organising a work stoppage at a Brighton construction site that the union said needed a female toilet.
CFMEU official Michael O’Connor has successfully appealed a ruling that threw out his lawsuit seeking to restrain union heavyweight John Setka from poaching members from the union’s manufacturing division.
A barrister for billionaire Clive Palmer has expressed doubt that the mining magnate’s defamation case against Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan can be resolved in mediation.
Litigation funder Augusta Ventures has won its challenge to a landmark ruling that it pay $3.1 million in security for the costs of two Fair Work class actions it is financing on behalf of casual mine workers.
A history of serial offending by the CFMEU could be factored into a court’s finding on the gravity of later breaches of the Fair Work Act, but not to the extent that the union pays a disproportionate penalty, the Full Federal Court has found in a significant ruling that settles conflicting case law.
Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has struck back at a defamation lawsuit by Clive Palmer, filing a counterclaim accusing the mining magnate of making a number of defamatory statements, including that he was a “liar” involved in “covering up” illegal activity.