A former One Nation staffer who accused former senator Brian Burston of harassment has told a court that Burston tried to get her to breach a settlement agreement reached after she brought an unfair dismissal claim by leaking details to the media.
The Commissioner of Taxation has failed in his bid to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a bankrupt migration lawyer who fled to Romania and owes $4.7 million in taxes, but has managed to strike out some claims a judge found had “no reasonable prospect of success”.
Payouts in class actions in 2020 largely kept pace with the previous year despite the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, with companies and other defendants paying more than $696 million to settle class actions last year.
The law firm that led an unfunded class action against the Federal government over the controversial Robodebt scheme will ask the court to approve up to $16 million in legal costs when it seeks approval for the $112 million settlement reached in the class action last year.
Assurances that PwC can be a defendant in a privilege fight with the ATO while representing three other defendants in the proceedings and avoid a conflict of interest has failed to allay concerns raised by a Federal Court judge, who said the situation created “at least an appearance of tension”.
The applicant in the settled Robodebt class action has warned a judge he will have a “dispute on [his] hands” if the government presses an argument that law firm Gordon Legal is not entitled to some of its legal fees — an argument the court was told would put the Commonwealth in breach of the settlement deed.
The NSW government cannot assert public immunity over cabinet documents sought in a case brought by the ACCC over an allegedly anti-competitive agreement for the privatisation of Port Botany and Port Kembla.
The Australian Taxation Office has been blocked from indirectly recouping GST lost in a major tax scam by allegedly crooked gold traders with the Full Federal Court finding a $208 million demand sent to a defunct gold refiner had incorrectly interpreted the GST Act.
The parties in a class action against the Federal Government over the controversial Robodebt scheme have reached an in principle settlement as the first day of a highly anticipated hearing was scheduled to kick off.
The chief of the Australian Defence Force has lost a bid to keep information obtained by a war crimes inquiry from three news publishers defending against a defamation suit by war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith.