Judges

Law firms running competing consumer class actions against Harvey Norman have failed to reach an agreement to join forces, setting the stage for a multiplicity fight this year. 

In a case alleging Waller Legal gave negligent advice in a sexual abuse claim, a judge has rejected the plaintiff’s bid to adduce evidence of the firm’s alleged tendency to pursue out of court settlement over litigation.

Origin Energy has submitted to $12 million in penalties over breaches of its life support obligations, including deregistering or disconnecting premises where someone was receiving life support. 

A judge has cut Slater & Gordon’s 33% contingency fee in a class action against Insurance Australia, saying it was too high since there was nothing “particularly novel” about the case.

A court has dismissed Mt Arthur Coal’s attempt to tender unserved affidavits at trial in a miner’s personal injury case, agreeing that it would amount to “trial by ambush”.

A judge has signed off on a $38 million settlement in a shareholder class action against Mayne Pharma but has slashed a 27.9 per cent commission for the funder that backed the case. Victorian Supreme Court Justice Andrew Watson approved the settlement on 19 December, including $6 million in legal costs and a 25.7 per…

Animal health company Virbac has lost its interlocutory bid to block a generic version of its animal drug Cydectin Platinum by rival Abbey Laboratories. 

Shareholders in collapsed financial services firm Babcock & Brown have lost their bid to stay costs orders after losing a ten-year-old dispute.

Maurice Blackburn is stuck paying $5.4 million in security in a flex commissions class action against Macquarie, with a judge saying it represents a “business risk willingly undertaken”.

Two Queensland solicitors have scored partial wins in their decades-long disputes with the tax office because of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal’s “wholesale failure” to give proper reasons.