Judges

A judge has refused to make a personal costs order against the former lawyers for a Canberra developer who sued two owners corporations for trespass and was lumped with costs after the trial was adjourned.

The NSW Law Society's unusual approach to a proposed case against a law firm principal for a clerk's alleged embezzlement of client funds means insurer Lawcover's summary dismissal bid must fail, a judge has said.

The director of collapsed Shangri-La Construction is personally liable for the $3.2 million in costs of rectification work on external cladding at an apartment complex in southeast Melbourne, a judge has found.

Mining equipment supplier Southern Cross Industrial has lost its suit alleging an industrial lighting manufacturer infringed its patent for a portable light tower, with a judge finding the patent invalid.

A judge has declined to order US-based animal genomics company Scidera to file a position statement in its bovine gene patent infringement suit and said she was “running out of patience” after unsuccessful strike-out and summary dismissal applications by the defendants.

A company linked to the Victorian Liberal Party that provided a $1.5 million advance to former party leader John Pesutto says a case launched to block the loan should be thrown out.

ASIC has called for a court to strike out negligence and public misfeasance claims in a suit by billionaire Clive Palmer alleging the regulator and its chief investigator were "improperly influenced” by corporate rivals.

Penalties imposed for disclosure breaches will hit two directors of e-commerce firm Open4Sale where it hurts, after a court on Tuesday barred the pair from having recourse to any indemnity by the company.

BHP must compensate coal mine workers who were rostered to work at a Queensland mine on Christmas and Boxing Day without a reasonable right of refusal.

Russia has lost its High Court challenge to the federal government’s decision to terminate its lease on a site where it intended to build a new embassy in Canberra, but the court found the Commonwealth must pay the country reasonable compensation.