Judges

Kingfisher Mobile, which provides mobile services to Telstra customers, has taken the telecommunications giant to court for allegedly breached its contractual obligations when it engaged a new provider to take over from Kingfisher.

Sydney real estate group The Agency has lost an appeal in its trade mark case against a rival, with the Full Federal Court upholding a finding that the company would have an “unwarranted monopoly” if other businesses were barred from using the descriptive words in its name.

Care A2 Plus must hand over $675,000 in security for costs to pursue a $358 million cross-claim in a lawsuit by former business partner Gensco, after a judge found the infant formula company’s claims were a "counterattack", and not merely defensive. 

US drink giant PepsiCo has lodged an appeal of a court win for the Australian Taxation Office over payments made by Schweppes under a distribution agreement that were found to be subject to royalty withholding tax.

A judge has discontinued a class action by Victorian councils against insurer JLT Risk Solutions, but has departed from the decisions of two other judges by ruling the suspension of the time limit for bringing the councils' claims will immediately be lifted. 

Awaiting judgment in Federal Court class actions by shareholders over its money laundering risk disclosures, the Commonwealth Bank will ask the court to reopen the case to consider the relevance of two recent decisions that found shareholders in other class actions had failed to prove loss.

Bank of Queensland will pay a $820,000 penalty after its Members Equity was found guilty of criminal charges over misleading representations, with a judge finding the defunct direct bank was no less responsible because the offending conduct resulted from a systems error.

Apple has failed to prevent a funder from accessing data that will allow it to estimate potential damages in a class action it's bankrolling over allegedly anti-competitive app store restrictions.

A judge has criticised Tesla’s bid for an urgent arrest warrant against a NSW man who allegedly published material leaked by a former employee about its self-driving software, saying the man needs the chance to properly respond to the electric car giant’s contempt of court claim. 

The Australian Law Reform Commission has recommended extensive reforms to the "confusing maze" that is the Corporations Act, including the creation of a standalone financial services law.