Judges

The judge presiding over the settlement approval hearing in a shareholder class action against telecommunications company Vocus Group has questioned whether the High Court's recent ruling striking down common fund orders at the outset of class actions would allow him to make such an order at settlement.

Passengers on a European river cruise operated by Scenic Tours can claim damages for disappointment after they were forced to take buses for most of their luxury tour, the High Court has ruled.

The administrators of Virgin Australia will not have to pay the troubled carrier’s aircraft and other lease payments, after a court granted them a temporary exemption from liability.

A hearing to determine damages in the Queensland floods class action will proceed next week despite an appeal brought by the two dam operators that were found liable for the 2011 floods in the state that destroyed 2,000 homes.

Repeated suggestions of a planned strike out application are being used as a "threat" by four AMP subsidiaries and two trustees in a consolidated class action over allegedly excessive superannuation fees, a court has heard.

A ruling Wednesday that struck down class closure orders -- a device used by judges in class actions for the past two decades -- has split the courts in Australia and is expected to head to the High Court.

The Copyright Tribunal has dismissed an application by media monitoring firm Isentia to lower per-clip rates payable to collecting house Copyright Agency, rejecting arguments the higher fees had led to a loss of customers.

A settlement between the ACCC and STA Travel has resulted in a penalty of $14 million after the court found the travel agency misled consumers about their ability to change flight dates and other travel details.

Global search giant Google will likely be forced to hand over details of an online reviewer’s identity to gangland lawyer Zarah Garde-Wilson so she can pursue defamation and misleading and deceptive conduct claims against the reviewer, which she alleges is a rival law firm.

Piper Alderman will spend the next six weeks gathering documents for a former partner who is seeking to revive her unlawful discrimination case against the firm, but a court limited the categories of documents sought to prevent a 'fishing' expedition.