Judges

An alternative therapies clinic in Victoria has been hit with $3 million in penalties for allegedly promoting “pseudo-scientific” treatments to vulnerable people with chronic illnesses in posts on social media and its website.

More than 18 months after a split emerged among the courts, the Full Federal Court will weigh in on whether judges have power to shut out unregistered group members from a class action. But given the breadth of the question for the appeals court, the issue is unlikely to be resolved there.

A judge has said if he sides with a former ANZ trader in a privilege dispute with the bank over file notes from 2014 meetings over ASIC's bank bill swap rate investigations it would create a "whole world of pain" for solicitors claiming privilege over their notes in other cases.

A judge has ruled he will not consider a separate question on whether Acciona is barred from setting off any damages payable to Lendlease in a lawsuit over the $160 million sale of its engineering business.

Romeo's will pay $1.55 million to registered group members as part of a settlement of two class actions alleging the supermarket chain underpaid staff.

The applicant in a class action against NAB superannuation trustee NULIS has lost his bid to have a judge determine aggregate damages at an initial trial.

Victorian workers challenging the government's health directions requiring workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 have lost their second bid to disqualify the judge hearing the case on the ground of apprehended bias.

A judge has allowed two a2 Milk trade marks to proceed to registration despite "legitimate uncertainty" created by IP Australia in a long-running intellectual property spat with competitor Lion Dairy & Drinks.

The ACCC has been accused of running a "experimental test case" that tries to fit the shares market within the scope of the Competition and Consumer Act with its criminal cartel case against Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and several prominent banking executives over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement.

The Full Court is set to examine whether the Federal Court has the power to make class closure orders prior to mediation, weighing on one of the biggest unanswered questions vexing the class action regime.