Herbert Smith Freehills

Monsanto can’t throw out the evidence of an expert for the plaintiff in a class action over its Roundup product who has testified that the company engaged in criminal conduct in trying to bury scientific reports on the popular weed killer’s alleged cancer-causing properties.

Citibank has argued group members should be asked to sign on to a class action accusing five major banks of entering a cartel agreement to rig foreign exchange rates before evidence is filed in the case, saying it was impossible to know how much the claims were worth. 

BHP has argued that investors who bought shares through secondary platforms are excluded from a long-running shareholder class action over a failed Brazilian dam, a claim slammed as an “unduly narrow reading” of the case.

A self-represented applicant is challenging the permanent stay of his competition class action against Google and Meta over the digital companies’ decision to ban cryptocurrency ads.

Payroll services provider PayMe Australia has lost its opposition to fintech Paymend’s bid to trade mark its name, with an IP Australia delegate finding the marks are not substantially identical. 

A law firm behind a class action against the state of Victoria over the COVID-19 hotel quarantine fiasco is seeking what would be the second highest contingency fee rate for running the case, saying the percentage was justified given the complexity of the novel claims.

The future of a competition class action against AGL Energy is in doubt after being abandoned by its funder, despite evading the energy supplier’s bid to dismiss the case.

Maurice Blackburn will seek $26 million in costs from a $110 million settlement in a long-running class action against AMP over its fees-for-no-service conduct, leaving more than three-quarters of the settlement to be distributed to group members.

Commercial real estate practitioners can expect a rise in work for the build-to-rent sector amid Australia’s continuing housing crisis, says Baker McKenzie’s new partner, Emily Peverill, who joins the firm after 17 years at Herbert Smith Freehills.

In allowing Seven and chairman Kerry Stokes to challenge a ruling granting Fairfax access to 8,600 emails with accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith’s legal team, a judge has said they will suffer prejudice if “personally embarrassing” communications are put into evidence.