Judges

A court overseeing a $356 million defects case has ordered Pacific Werribee Shopping Centre's owners to produce communications between an engineering consultant and Big Six firm Allens, finding legal privilege was waived.

The owners of land acquired by Transport for New South Wales to build the M12 motorway to the new Western Sydney Airport must be compensated an additional $28.6 million to align with the value of their property after it was rezoned, a court has found.

Crowley Australia has lost its challenge to a $6.1 million decision for contractor Latitude 63 in a payment row over the construction of fuel tanks in Darwin, with a judge rejecting claims the adjudicator should have recused himself. 

A Queensland solicitor has been referred to the Legal Services Commission after filing submissions in a client’s traffic offense case that a judge said contained fake citations and may have been AI-generated.

A court has granted the corporate regulator leave to proceed with a lawsuit against collapsed advisory firm MWL Financial for advising clients to invest $114 million in their super into Keystone’s failed Shield Master Fund. 

Delivering his findings on ASIC’s action against Star Entertainment executives on Thursday, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee remarked that the “self-congratulatory submissions" of former board members named in the case were "jarring”.

In finding Star Entertainment's former group general counsel liable for breaches of duty, the judge overseeing ASIC's case has questioned the chief lawyer's insistence that she "rarely gave legal advice" and that her roles with the company should be delineated.

The reluctance of Pacific Werribee Shopping Centre co-owner Wadren to withdraw a non-compliant expert report in a $356 million defects case against the collapsed Probuild has raised the hackles of the presiding judge.

ASIC has had mixed success in a case against former Star directors and officers, with a judge finding the casino operator’s former CEO and GC breached their duties but that claims against the former board fell short.

A court has rejected a bid to apportion costs by Downer after it found ICC arbitration proceedings the company brought against Squadron were invalidly commenced, saying the engineering company had lost on the core issue in dispute.