Judges

A judge has ordered Mercer Superannuation to pay $11.3 million for “reckless, if not deliberate” representations about so-called sustainable investment options that included investment in oil and gas companies, including BHP and Origin Energy. 

A judge has approved a $8.25 million settlement in a class action against PricewaterhouseCoopers brought by Axsesstoday bondholders over an allegedly misleading bond prospectus.

A court has found that the NRL’s insurance policy with Lloyd’s of London does not cover former South Sydney Rabbitohs star Ethan Lowe for the devastating injury he suffered during a State of Origin match four years ago, dismissing the retired rugby player’s $1 million lawsuit. 

After leading the first in a series of class actions by thousands of junior doctors to victory at trial, the applicant in a landmark wage case against Peninsula Health has told a judge the penalty against the Victorian hospital operator must send a clear message.

Mining company Fortescue, which alleges green iron startup Element Zero misused confidential information, is fighting a bid to cross-examine its external lawyer as part of an application to quash search orders.

A law firm partner has avoided personal liability for costs after expert reports were filed late in a dispute with developer Mirvac over alleged defects in a Sydney apartment complex, having walked back an appeal to “competing commitments” that didn’t wash in court. 

In a first for a Big Four firm, PwC has made good on its promise to appoint an independent chair to its board and has tasked law firm Webb Henderson and former top judge with tracking its progress on other commitments made in the wake of its tax leaks scandal.

A judge has struck out an allegation by the builder of Sydney’s Opal Tower that insurer Liberty Mutual breached its duty of good faith and has warned Icon to carefully consider whether to re-plead the claim.

A Gadens-led class action against former Quintis director Frank Wilson has settled, but a second class action filed by a rival firm has flagged a potential claim on the settlement funds over a cause of action said to have been “picked up parasitically”. 

Plaintiff firm Maurice Blackburn will foot the bill for the unsuccessful class action against Monsanto over weed killer Roundup, but the company’s reluctance to split the trial in two has come back to bite it.