Bank of Queensland has lost a dispute with two insurers over coverage for a $6 million settlement of a class action brought by investors in a Ponzi scheme by jailed scammer Bradley Sherwin, with a judge shooting down the bank’s argument that the class action should only be considered one claim under the policy.
The judge overseeing Geoffrey Rush’s defamation trial interjected in Nationwide News’ closing submissions on Wednesday, expressing doubt about the publisher’s interpretation of evidence — including a text message with a tongue emoji Rush sent to his accuser — said to back its defence in the case.
A defamation case brought by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young against fellow senator David Leyonhjelm will go ahead after Leyonhjelm lost a bid to shut the suit down on the grounds of parliamentary privilege.
Hair loss treatment company Advangen International has been ordered to fork over $940,000 to advertising agency Ikon Communications after refusing to pay for an ad campaign it claimed was a flop.
The former chief executive officer of Sydney’s Parramatta Council is suing Fairfax Media, saying three articles published in the Sydney Morning Herald accusing him of lying on his resume were defamatory.
Shenzen-based radio manufacturer Hytera Communications has lost a bid to circumvent its discovery obligations in an ongoing patent dispute with Motorola, with a Federal Court judge rejecting its claims that supplying the documents could breach Chinese state secret and cybersecurity laws.
The Daily Telegraph publisher Nationwide News has lost a bid to amend its defence in Geoffrey Rush’s defamation case to include evidence from an unnamed witness it claimed would support the imputation that Rush engaged in sexual misconduct, with the judge saying the prejudice to Rush would be “manifest and palpable”.
Billionaire Clive Palmer has succeeded in knocking a second judge off a case brought against him by the liquidators of failed Queensland Nickel, after arguing that a previous ruling disqualified him.
A subsidiary of US-based PetroHunter Energy has defeated calls to toss its case over $70 million in allegedly unpaid contributions and contractual breaches stemming from a joint mining venture in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin.
The Commonwealth of Australia is weighing a bid to strike out Otsuka Pharmaceutical’s defence as the government seeks lost subsidies after an almost seven-year long patent dispute over the antipsychotic drug, Abilify.