Judges

Victoria’s Peninsula Health has abandoned an appeal of a ruling in a class action that found it breached workplace laws by failing to pay overtime to a junior doctor, a capitulation that could be a game changer for a series of class actions against health care providers.

A judge has ordered soft class closure in a class action against Suncorp unit AAI over allegedly worthless insurance, saying that knowing how many of the 200,000 group members are likely to participate would assist in resolving the case.

A Sydney law firm and its principal have been fined $14,400 for disobeying a Fair Work Ombudsman compliance notice issued for the alleged underpayment of a paralegal, with a judge saying the lawyer’s belief she did not owe any wages was “unreasoned and unreasonable”. 

A judge overseeing an appeal in a carriage dispute in a class action against Jaguar Land Rover over allegedly defective diesel filters has said he prefers the approach of the Supreme Court of Victoria to such fights, saying firms should not revise their bids multiple times.

A judge has ordered soft class closure ahead of mediation in a class action against five major banks over alleged foreign exchange rate-rigging, saying the applicant’s subjective view on what will assist mediation should not be imposed on the banks.

Former Supreme Court of Victoria Justice Lex Lasry served with the “highest standards of integrity”, and the circumstances that led to his resignation from the bench were “regrettable and extraordinary”, the president of Australia’s association of judges has said as reports emerge that the DPP has made a complaint about a second judge.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has won a travel ban against a former director of collapsed cryptocurrency platform Blockchain Global while the regulator investigates suspected criminal offences. 

The proprietors of a family-owned Adelaide deli selling imported food for the past 50 years have lost a trade mark lawsuit targeting Eddie Muto’s Il Mercato Centrale — the sprawling Italian market expected to open its first Australian location in Collins St, Melbourne this year.

The Bureau of Meteorology has appealed a judgment that found a former senior executive was unfairly fired after taking a business-class trip to Paris.

A judge has questioned the applicant’s opposition to soft class closure in a class action accusing five major banks of rate-rigging, a measure the banks say could save “tens of millions” in legal expenses.