A judge has signed off on a $37.5 million Murray Goulburn class action settlement but slashed $2 million in legal costs sought by Mark Elliott’s law firm, which is running the case.
Two gynaecologists have lost their bid to dismiss a negligence lawsuit brought by a patient implanted with a Johnson & Johnson pelvic mesh device found by a judge overseeing a related class action to have been defective.
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.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has launched proceedings against investment firm Mayfair 101 Group and Mayfair Platinum accusing them of misleading advertising.
The coronavirus has forged changes in the legal profession that will outlast the pandemic itself, leading to greater flexibility and efficiencies in an industry steeped in tradition and notably slow to adopt new technologies, sources told Lawyerly.
The Commonwealth of Australia has called for the appointment of an amicus to scrutinise the $212.5 million settlement reached in several class action against it over allegedly toxic firefighting foam used on government military bases.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has lost its bid for indemnity costs against the Australian Federal Police in a case brought to block access to documents seized during a search of its headquarters last year.
Hicksons Lawyers has denied accusations of sexual discrimination by a female ex-partner who was denied a promotion to equity partner, saying she was passed over for the role because of substandard profitability and poor performance.
Johnson & Johnson has appealed a ruling awarding the three lead applicants in a class action over its pelvic mesh products a combined $2.6 million in damages, after a judge found the company failed to adequately warn women of the implants’ risks.
Union heavyweight John Setka has successfully defended a case brought by CFMEU boss Micheal O’Connor seeking orders restraining Setka from poaching members from the union’s manufacturing division.