Judges

Despite noting that a class action trial and appeal were “unusual”, a judge overseeing a long-running class action against Ford has refused an application to send a notice to group members about a coming appeal in the case.

Former Channel 7 rugby league journalist Josh Massoud has lost an appeal of a decision clearing multiple media outlets of defamation over reports alleging he threatened to kill and defile the corpse of a young reporter.

The sacked boss of fleet management Orix Australia, who is seeking $1 million in unpaid leave, wants to challenge a decision allowing the company’s defence that anything it owes is set off by the losses the former CEO allegedly caused.

A judge has rejected a bid by Clive Palmer-owned Palmer Leisure Australia to throw out legal action by the Electoral Commission of Queensland over donations the golf course management company made to Palmer’s United Australia Party in 2020.

Google has won its appeal of a judgment awarded to gangland lawyer George Defteros that found the tech giant liable for linking to an allegedly defamatory article, with the High Court finding Google was not the publisher of the story.

Gaming giant Aristocrat Technologies has lost its legal challenge to a decision that rejected a patent for its popular Lightning Link electronic poker machine, after six High Court Justices were equally split on whether it could be patented.

A judge overseeing a shareholder class action against GetSwift has said the settlement and company itself have “collapsed” after the logistics business went into liquidation and failed to make the last of the upfront payments due under the deal’s $1.5 million cash component.

Shareholders in a class action against Arrium and KPMG are fighting an $8 million security for costs order sought by former directors of the failed steel giant, who say they should not be forced to defend the case “on a shoestring.”

The director of a money transfer business accused of fixing foreign exchange rates has filed a defence attacking the credibility of the federal prosecutor’s key witness, but his new lawyer says the attack might not be maintained at trial.  

An Australian food and drink importer has been permanently banned from falsely using the words ‘Scotch’ and ‘Scotch Whisky’, after being sued by The Scotch Whisky Association for “flagrant” copyright infringement.