Judges

Australian designer Katie Taylor has won her High Court appeal in a fight with pop star Katy Perry over the right to trade mark her name, with the court saying a Full Court ruling in Perry's favour "rewarded the wrongdoers".

A judge has granted the first-ever application to vary a contingency fee in a class action that has yet to reach settlement or judgment, but has warned his decision doesn't set a precedent for “routine variation” of group costs orders. 

A class action against Dr Daniel Lanzer and his clinic has won approval to allege that some doctors passed themselves off as plastic surgeons in social media posts, including some that included the terms #plasticsurgeon and #plasticsurgery.

A court has found that Racing NSW's appointment of an administrator to the owner of Sydney's Randwick Racecourse over financial concerns was invalid.

Pharmacor wants to amend its defence in AstraZeneca's suit over the Australian drug maker's plans to launch a generic version of diabetes drug Forxiga so that it can argue a patent extension for the drug should not have been granted.

HWL Ebsworth might rely on expert evidence to show it acted reasonably in its representation of the Commonwealth in a $2.45 million settlement with Brittany Higgins, a deal at the centre of a suit by ex-defence minister Linda Reynolds.

Acciona has won $2.1 million from Zurich Insurance and two other insurers in a case alleging it was entitled to indemnity after severe weather events damaged work on the Bruce Highway project in Queensland. 

Describing it as the most significant corporate governance action taken in his time at ASIC, the regulator's chief says the Star case is a wake-up call for directors.

The judgment in ASIC's case against Star's top executives and directors sounds a warning that board members need to proactively test information and serves as a "stark reminder" to general counsel that their duties are owed to the company, not management, experts tell Lawyerly.

A law firm bringing a class action alleging Harvey Norman sold worthless warranties is seeking a 30 per cent group costs order, arguing times have changed and that the court should only consider GCOs awarded in the past year.