Bracing for a slowdown in work as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and calling on its staff to “face this situation together”, Norton Rose Fulbright is reducing pay and hours by up to 20 per cent for the majority of its 1000 lawyers and support staff in Australia.
Personal healthcare giant PZ Cussons is seeking indemnity costs from the ACCC, claiming the regulator unreasonably rejected a settlement offer in its case over an alleged laundry detergent cartel.
Construction giant Icon has filed a cross-claim against the prefab concrete company behind the ill-fated Opal Tower, seeking to recover at least part of almost $28 million in losses spent after cracks in the building caused residents to evacuate in 2018.
The Kingdom of Spain is facing yet another Federal Court enforcement proceeding over its ill-fated renewable energy initiative, this time by a Luxembourg-based renewable investment firm seeking payment of a $75.1 million award granted by an international arbitration tribunal.
A judge has ordered that Joseph ‘Diamond Joe’ Gutnik’s Merlin Diamonds be wound up after the mining company’s provisional liquidators uncovered “serious contraventions” and a “serious failure of governance”.
Tasmanian state-owned ports company TasPorts has admitted to charging additional fees to the owner of a local port, but has denied the ACCC’s allegations that these actions constituted a misuse of market power designed to stymie competition.
A judge overseeing a class action against National Australia Bank over ‘junk insurance’ has ordered that potential group members be given information about cancelling the policies, but not before taking the applicants to task for not having the polices automatically cancelled as part of the $49.5 million settlement.
A judge has dismissed an opposition by tech company Vehicle Management Systems to a patent application by rival SARB Management Group for an integrated magnetic parking overstay detector.
The lead applicants in two class actions against 7-Eleven are considering bringing a contempt of court motion against the convenience store giant after the Full Federal Court derailed their challenge to prior orders allowing the company to seek litigation releases from franchisees.
The judge overseeing the trial in a trade secrets case brought by Australian auto electronics developer Directed Electronics OE against its rivals is considering how the cross-examination of witnesses will proceed given current restrictions imposed on gatherings due to the coronavirus, including in the event of a possible lockdown.