Clayton Utz

Clayton Utz has lost its appeal of a costs assessment in a contractual dispute for which it billed $1.46 million in legal fees, allegedly five times more than the other parties’ legal bill.

Victims of privacy breaches must demonstrate actual loss and damage to be eligible for compensation, according to a judge who has given asylum seekers who secured a ruling from the Privacy Commissioner a second chance at proving loss from the public disclosure of their personal information.

The runner-up in a contest to administer Johnson & Johnson’s $300 million settlement of two pelvic mesh class actions has lost a challenge to a decision awarding the prize to the team of Slater & Gordon, BDO and the firm of former Shine Lawyers solicitor Jan Saddler.

A judge has approved a $50 million settlement in a class action against the Commonwealth Bank over allegedly worthless consumer credit insurance after his concerns about a $2.5 million deduction for Deloitte were allayed.

Engineering firms G&S Engineering and DRA Global have lost their bid to shield legal advice by McCullough Robertson on whether they were liable to MACH Energy for indirect losses while building a coal processing plant at Mount Pleasant in South Australia.

CBA should pay a penalty of $12.8 million — close to the maximum penalty the court can impose on the bank — for underpaying its staff to the tune of $16.4 million, a judge has heard.

Telco Swift Networks has been hit with a $1.2 million penalty for bid rigging and price fixing in the tender process for supplying IT and communications equipment for three Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals mining projects in WA’s Pilbara region.

A class action against Volkswagen over allegedly deadly Takata airbags has failed a second time after an appeals court found “a merely speculative” risk of rupture was not enough to find the vehicles unacceptable.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has agreed to backpay thousands of branch staff $3 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it failed to provide employees with paid rest breaks for at least six years.

Novartis has lost its bid to have Pharmacor’s claim that its patent for a blood pressure drug is invalid decided ahead of a main trial where the Swiss pharmaceutical giant will allege the generic drug maker is threatening to infringe its patent.