Judges

A SOP Act adjudicator had power to determine that reasons proffered by a Queensland construction company for withholding payment to a concrete subcontractor were "new reasons" and not properly made, a court has found.

Liquidators of collapsed Forge Group are close to settling their insider trading case against engineering and construction company Clough and former directors, a court has heard on what was to be the first day of trial.

AUSTRAC wants Star to pay a $400 million penalty for breaching anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, while the company claims a penalty of more than $100 million would tip it into liquidation. 

The owners corporation suing Parkview Construction over alleged combustible cladding at the Australia Towers in Sydney Olympic Park is “hopeful” of a settlement being reached, a court has heard on the eve of trial.

A judge has thrown out a notice to produce issued by an Australian company being targeted by UK genomic sequencing company Oxford Nanopore Technologies, calling its bid for board minutes and other documents a “fishing expedition”.

Mortgage broker Lendi Group and insurer ALI Group want to declass a junk insurance class action, telling a judge that even in a successful scenario, the more than 13,000 group members will be left to share only $2.5 million. 

The judge overseeing two competing class actions against Google has issued a warning to law firms that agree to team up and work on a class action together, saying that in other markets such arrangements might be viewed as “something akin to a cartel”.

A class action by investors in a Melbourne apartment develpment has resolved for $2.6 million, but the law firm bringing the case will take a haircut on its fees after group members ignored calls to contribute to the costs.

A bid by the parties for the court to determine legal costs in a successful case over the $55 million sale of a Queensland shopping centre has left a judge scratching his head.