Describing the federal government’s income-averaging debt collection program as a “shameful chapter”, a judge has approved a $112 million settlement in the Robodebt class action, saying the agreement was fair and reasonable.
Volkswagen has asked the High Court to throw out a a landmark $125 million penalty over its emissions cheating scandal, the highest ever handed down in Australia for consumer law violations.
SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has lost a bid to shield his medical records from three publishers less than a week before his high-profile defamation case kicks off in the Federal Court.
JPMorgan is fighting to keep details of failed settlement talks with ASIC under wraps in criminal cartel proceedings over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement, as ANZ seeks to uncover whether the corporate regulator made a deal with the investment bank ahead of the cartel case being filed.
A judge has thrown out a legal challenge to the Morrison government’s ban on Australians travelling overseas during COVID-19, saying that Parliament had intended to permit the government to take such “harsh” measures that may “intrude on individual rights” in an emergency.
A barrister and solicitor who accused the Victoria Supreme Court of bias have avoided a contempt of court ruling, despite a judge finding their conduct “fell short of the standards of competence and diligence” expected of lawyers.
A judge has ordered the federal government to file an amended defence in one of two class actions over its use of allegedly toxic firefighting foam on military bases, after being accused of lodging a deficient pleading.
Class actions are the next battleground following Thursday’s Federal Court ruling that the government owes a duty of care to protect children from the risks of climate change, according to a number of legal experts.
The federal Minister for the Environment owes a duty of care to children who could suffer “catastrophic” harms from increased greenhouse gas emissions that would result from approving the expansion of Whitehaven’s Vickery coal mine, a judge has ruled.
Ben Roberts-Smith has won approval to split his case at the upcoming trial in his defamation case against three publishers over articles accusing him of war crimes, with a judge saying the seriousness of the allegations against him weighed in favour of the unorthodox move.