Judges

The Federal Court’s new Chief Justice Debra Mortimer will bring a sense of adventure to her role as top judge, which she foreshadowed will be approached holistically in a welcome ceremony before pre-eminent members of the legal community. 

Senior restructuring and insolvency lawyers have welcomed a novel ruling that found a liquidator was entitled to claim his costs ahead of the preferred claims of company employees, but questions remain about the "potentially difficult" interaction between two conflicting priority regimes.

Liquidators of Sargon Capital are pursuing a claim for $4 million against super trustee firm Diversa and are investigating potential insolvent trading claims against the collapsed fintech's directors.

The relationship between police and prosecutors involved in the criminal case against accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann was "beset by tension" from the outset, an inquiry has heard.

In a novel decision, a judge has found that a liquidator is entitled to claim his “arguably disproportionate” costs ahead of the preferred claims of company employees.

The builder of an allegedly defective Haymarket apartment building has lost an appeal of a decision which found that separate breaches of statutory building warranties do not create individual causes of action.

A judge has approved a $50.45 million settlement in a class action by family members and deceased estates of the Northern Territory Stolen Generations. He has also approved a 13 per cent funding commission by way of a common fund order, saying debates about CFOs had become “lost in the label”.

Coffee brand Vittoria can't transfer a case over the trade mark for rival Moccona's instant coffee jar from one Federal Court registry to another, with a judge reminding the company that the court was "well into the 21st century" and could livestream hearings without the need for interstate travel.

Car electronics company Directed Electronics has challenged a ruling that partially dismissed its case over the alleged misappropriation of trade secrets by a former manager, who was found to have pocketed $3.6 million in commissions through a secret agreement with rival Hanhwa.

A sex discrimination case by the only female partner at global tech research company Information Services Group has been discontinued after a judge panned the "ludicrous" number of witnesses expected to give evidence.