Corporate

Quest Serviced Apartments is using unfair tactics to unlawfully terminate franchise agreements, according to a lawsuit by a franchisee that is fighting to keep its doors open after COVID-19 restrictions forced closures across the country.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has hit beleaguered mining firm Griffin Coal with criminal charges over its alleged failure to lodge annual financial reports for 2019 and 2020.

Logistics company GetSwift says it is considering an appeal of an 859-page judgment which lambasted the company and its directors’ “public relations-driven approach” to announcements on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Former Tennis Australia president Steven Healy has lost his bid for $4.3 million in indemnity costs against ASIC over its failed case over the rights to the Australian Open, with a judge finding the regulator’s case against him had “reasonable prospects of success” before trial.

A court has struck down a bid by unvaccinated nurses to restrain Monash Health from terminating their employment in accordance with the Victorian COVID-19 public health directions requiring them to be vaccinated, saying their case is “at best, weak”.

A judge has rejected part of IVF provider Virtus Health’s bid for redactions in a recent decision from the court temporarily blocking the company from purchasing rival Adora Fertility, saying some of the confidentiality claims were “staggering” and “border on ridiculous.”

Spruson & Ferguson and Shelston IP have merged to create Australia’s largest intellectual property law firm, with a 200-strong workforce and more than 160 years of combined experience.

A national law firm has been found liable to pay $13 million in damages for giving negligent advice to a former client that led to a botched sale of its business to Woolworths and caused it to go into administration.

Asset manager Aurora Funds has won its bid to toss a demand by law firm Piper Alderman for $119,335 in allegedly unpaid legal fees, with a judge finding the terms of a settlement deed between the parties may operate as a “penalty” for defaulting on payments.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has won an injunction to stop Virtus from completing the purchase of rival Adora Fertility until a court has ruled on the competition regulator’s challenge to the acquisition.