The lead applicants in seven class actions against auto manufacturers over explosive Takata airbags have criticised the courts for losing their way in ensuring justice is done, in a landmark challenge to class closure orders made in the cases.
A former manager of Australian electronics automotive developer Directed Electronics OE has failed to block access to certain documents in a corporate theft case, despite the Federal Court finding they gave rise to a “real and appreciable risk” of civil or criminal prosecution against him.
A Melbourne-based craft brewery has had its ‘Urban Ale’ trade mark cancelled, with a judge finding other beer makers might want to use the words to describe their products and that cancelling the mark would be in the public interest.
The property developers behind two Canberra apartment complexes have been dealt a partial loss in two class actions against them, with a judge finding the developers misled the lead applicants about the GST payable on their units but that only some of them were entitled to compensation or restitution.
The applicants in a group of class actions over defective Takata airbags are pushing ahead with a challenge to the power of the NSW Supreme Court to issue class closure orders in the aftermath of a High Court decision shooting down common fund orders, a fight that could send the cases back to the High Court.
The construction company behind Sydney’s Opal Tower has filed a cross claim seeking $30 million from structural architect WSP Structures over its allegedly faulty building design.
Mining services company Thiess is challenging a ruling in a class action that put it on the hook for paying workers for time spent bussing to and from their work stations at a construction site on Woodside Energy’s Pilbara-based LNG processing plant.
A sizeable group of employment lawyers from K&L Gates has parted ways with the US legal giant to set up its own specialist shop, shaking up the market for employment law services in Australia.
Construction firm Icon Co has pressed the Federal Court for an expedited hearing in its case against insurers Liberty Mutual Insurance and QBE over the 2018 Opal Tower disaster, saying it wants to resolve the matter before a class action brought by apartment owners in building progresses too far.
Macquarie Bank has been hit with another lawsuit by former financial advisers who claim the bank underpaid them to the tune of $4.8 million by remunerating them solely in commission when they were entitled to a regular wage.