Justice Sarah Derrington

A class action against Carnival over a COVID-19 outbreak aboard its Ruby Princess cruise ship has told the Full Court the lead applicant is entitled to damages “far in excess” of the $4,000 awarded by the trial judge for distress and disappointment.

Cruise operator Carnival PLC has mounted a cross-appeal aimed at overturning a judge’s finding that it negligently failed to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak aboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship, telling the Full Court that the primary judge’s findings were not consistent with his reasons.

An arrangement to restructure Queensland labour hire services company Comlek has survived a challenge by the state’s revenue office, which wanted the business wound up, claiming the restructure was against public interest and commercial morality.

A director of two Paladin Group units is entitled to rely on the privilege against self-exposure to penalty in defending a case brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, a court has heard.

An appeals court has granted the Commonwealth’s bid to suppress material relating to its “conduct after capture” training in a discrimination case brought by a former ADF member, finding that a document is not in the public domain simply because it is available for inspection on the court file.

A judge has ordered Western Australian biotech Holista Colltech to pay a penalty of $1.8 million for making misleading representations to the market about sales of its natural sanitiser product during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and hit its CEO with a four-year ban. 

Queensland power company Stanwell has flagged a possible ‘no case to answer’ submission in an upcoming competition class action trial that would seek to shut the case down mid-trial, with a judge saying it was “highly unlikely” to succeed. 

A litigation funder must pay indemnity costs to CoreLogic after bankrolling a photographer’s unsuccessful copyright claim against the property data analytics company, with an appeals court finding it pursued the litigation for its own personal gain.

A judge has found that a case brought by the liquidators of investment firm Linchpin Capital against auditors Grant Thornton and Moore Stephens for signing off on the compliance plan for a registered fund that allegedly misused investor money has legs.

A class action against AGL Energy alleges the Big three energy supplier’s adoption of “gaming” strategies in the supply of electricity in South Australia led to anomalous price spikes in the state.