A bid by the Victorian Liberal Party to summarily toss a challenge to a $1.5 million advance made to former leader John Pesutto for defence costs in a defamation suit has failed, with a court finding there is a case to be tried about the validity of the loan.
More than four years after the roof of the Kew Recreation Centre in Melbourne’s east collapsed, builder ADCO has filed a suit seeking millions in damages from the local council, alleging it provided a defective design which made collapse “inevitable”.
Class action settlements hit major milestones last year, with the year’s largest settlements totalling $1.6 billion and one case resolving for a historic $548.5 million.
Former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann has taken his fight against a civil finding that he raped colleague Brittany Higgins to the High Court.
Builder Leda Constructions has lost its bid for injunctions that would prevent the principal in a $4 million building contract from calling on two bank guarantees worth $101,553 each.
Pointing to a pattern of non-compliance with his orders, a judge hearing a shareholder class action over the collapse of mining company Cudeco has expressed concerns about “significant” delays in the case.
The judge overseeing a whistleblower suit by the former head of recycling at Neometals has chastised the executive for using ChatGPT to prepare an unsuccessful stay application.
Reforms to Australia’s merger review regime kicked in on 1 January, but late-breaking amendments to the new laws mean changes to notification thresholds and further exemptions.
A judge has ordered Australian Unity to pay a $7.1 million penalty in ASIC proceedings alleging it pumped more than $9.5 million into a risky mortgage scheme without properly vetting investors.
A court has found that two of the three heirs to the owners of property investor Kurtz Group can continue to use the services of Arnold Bloch Leibler, finding no risk of conflict.