Professional Negligence

The public body in charge of managing the Murray Darling’s water resources has slammed as "incoherent" a class action's claims that it owes a duty of care to protect farmers and irrigators against economic loss.

On the first day of trial, a court has heard a class action over alleged negligent management of water flowing through the Murray Darling system is a “world away” from a climate change class action that recently failed at trial. 

Law firm HWL Ebsworth, which was found liable for negligence over advice on a Parramatta land development, has lost its opposition to a referee process for calculating damages.

A lot has changed in Australia and the US since 2016, when Turnbull and Obama were still in power, but the same can't be said for a negligence suit against HWL Ebsworth filed by a client that year, laments a wistful judge.

A judge has found that the government owes no duty of care to Torres Strait Islanders to protect them against the effects of climate change, despite finding that there was a very real risk they could become “climate refugees”.

A long-running class action against the Murray Darling Basin Authority over alleged negligent water management, including the failure to consider the impacts of climate change, will head to trial next month, just weeks after the court issues judgment in another closely watched climate class action. 

Builder Acciona and consultant AECOM have been named as defendants in a class action on behalf of families of victims of a bus accident in Hunter Valley, NSW, facing allegations they were responsible for the construction and certification of the interchange where it occurred. 

A tribunal has recommended a solicitor who continued to advertise his legal services on social media after his practising certificate was revoked should be struck off the roll.

Hall & Wilcox has brought proceedings against accounting firm Pitcher Partners, alleging it breached its duty of care by providing negligent advice on late superannuation payments. 

A judge has questioned whether he should decide a tax dispute that will impact how much damages a former HWL Ebsworth client will get in a nine year-old negligence case over a property development.