A law firm has won its case seeking preliminary discovery from Essential Energy to pursue a possible class action against the state-owned electricity infrastructure company over the 2018 Tathra bushfire in NSW.
A Mexican restaurant franchise has settled a dispute with Taco Bell that will allow the fast food giant to move ahead with plans to set up shop in Victoria.
Herbert Smith Freehills cannot recover its costs for successfully representing itself in litigation with United Petroleum over the company’s aborted initial public offering, with an appeals court finding the High Court’s recent ruling eliminating the so-called Chorley exception for self-represented lawyers applies to law firms as well.
The law firms running two competing product liability class actions against chemical giant Monsanto over its allegedly cancer-causing weed killer have been unable to reach agreement on how they will jointly manage the cases, a court has heard.
Nine-owned Fairfax Media has been sent back to the drawing board to redo what a judge called a “very unhelpful” defence to a defamation lawsuit brought by venture capitalist Elaine Stead over articles that appeared in the Australian Financial Review about her role in the collapse of fund manager Blue Sky Alternative Investments.
Vodafone has won its case against the ACCC over its proposed merger with rival telecommunications company TPG, with a judge ruling the tie-up would not substantially lessen competition and had a real chance of becoming a “competitive force” against the two dominant players in the market, Telstra and Optus.
Australian agricultural fund manager Rural Funds Group has won its legal action alleging US short seller Bonitas Research engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct when it described the group’s equity as “ultimately worthless” and sent its share price plummeting.
During another day of cross-examination in a criminal cartel case against ANZ and two investment banks, a key ACCC officer was accused of lying about his interrogation of a key cartel witness, with the officer insisting there was nothing “sinister” in his examination.
A McDonald’s franchisee has hit back at claims it threatened staff with cruel and inhumane working conditions by telling employees they could not go to the toilet during their shift outside a 10-minute paid break, saying the law doesn’t give workers the right to go to the bathroom whenever they want to.
The funder behind a class action against Westpac over allegedly excessive insurance premiums has confirmed that it will continue backing the case despite earlier concerns it may pull out in the wake of the High Court’s landmark ruling on common fund orders.