Judges

The director of collapsed builder Shangri-La Construction wants to expand his defence in a suit over allegedly flammable cladding installed in a Melbourne building to argue a funding agreement with an owners corporation was not valid because nearly a quarter of owners abstained or voted against it.

A judge has ordered Facebook owner Meta to file its defence in the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s three-year-old case over scam cryptocurrency ads on the social media platform. 

Facing allegations that it misused its market power with major retailers, Mastercard is challenging a ruling for the ACCC that lays bare discussions about merchant agreements involving inhouse lawyers.

In the final chapter of a years-long fight, an appeals court has ordered a NSW prefab home builder to pay almost $500,000 in damages after finding it engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct to convince a couple to vary their contract to allow the use of cladding they had previously rejected.

Another judge has railed against the use of generative AI in court proceedings, after a self-represented litigant filed an application to annul his bankruptcy that was replete with fake citations.

The judge overseeing the Robodebt class action, which settled this month for a record $548.5 million, may put the settlement administration role out to tender, saying the sum earmarked for the job was "staggeringly large".

Construction company Mossop has lost an appeal of a decision for concreter Contek, with an appeals court upholding a judgment accounting for all payment claims in the case, even those subject to agreement before trial.

Mining giant BHP and its in-house labour hire subsidiary have failed in their Federal Court bid to stay same job, same pay orders by the Fair Work Commission ahead of an appeal.

The developer of a 683-lot project in Glenmore Park, NSW has lost its bid to strike out parts of a class action by owners and investors alleging the land on which the development sits is unsuitable for residential construction.

A judge has flagged the possibility of referring lawyers acting for Alvarez & Marsal to the legal watchdog after hearing the consultant's costs of complying with preliminary discovery orders won by Ernst & Young could top $500,000.