Judges

An appeal by Atanaskovic Hartnell over a $330,000 damages judgment in favor of a former general manager is motivated in part by the court’s award of costs in what is a typical ‘no-cost’ employment case, the firm has told a judge, who questioned how much money had been spent on the case already.

The liquidators of construction giant Ralan have been given the go-ahead to pursue a former sales manager and his wife as well as the ATO with claims worth over $18 million, with a judge finding the collapsed company operated “a type of Ponzi scheme”.

GetSwift director Joel Macdonald still has not been served almost a year after his former Melbourne Demons teammate James Strauss filed a $15 million lawsuit against him, with a judge adjourning yet another substituted service application.

Novartis unit Sandoz has won its bid to stay a case by rival Lundbeck, including orders for damages previously calculated at $26.3 million and counting, despite having succeeded at the High Court in a dispute over its patent for blockbuster antidepressant Lexapro.

Select AFSL, its related entities and its director have been slapped with $13.6 million in penalties after a judge found that the life insurer used unconscionable phone sales tactics to “wear down” often vulnerable consumers, including migrants and Indigenous communities.

A court has blessed a trust’s settlement with Ernst & Young that resolves a negligence case linked to a decade-long tax dispute that went to the High Court, rejecting an objection to the deal and saying it was “time this matter was brought to a conclusion”.

Baby food maker Bellamy’s better have a good explanation for ditching settlement talks in a $400,000 sex discrimination lawsuit by former boss Tarsi Luo, a judge has warned.

A psychiatrist has reached a confidential settlement with Harper Collins in his defamation case over a book about the controversial deep sleep therapy at the Chelmsford Private Hospital in the 1970s.

Oil company Lighthouse Corporation has lost its bid to force East Timor to jump through hoops to access a suite of documents in a $328 million dispute over a failed fuel supply agreement, but has succeeded in keeping the documents out of public hands amid fears by its director for his safety.

A judge has cautioned two law firms running competing shareholder class actions over last October’s cyber attack on Medibank that they must keep their focus on the best interests of clients and group members, saying lawyers can lose sight of that duty when arguing for their case.