New South Wales

The NSW Independent Casino Commission has announced a second inquiry into embattled casino operator Star, amid concerns about its response to Adam Bell SC’s first inquiry.

A Norwegian company can’t dodge service of a $2.5 million lawsuit via its Australian solicitors, failing in its argument that exceptional circumstances are needed to avoid the more lengthy and costly process of serving it in its home country.

Practitioners have marked the passing of former NSW Supreme Court Justice Andrew Rogers KC, who will be remembered for transforming commercial litigation through his vigorous, often “brutal” approach to case management.

A judge has approved a $4.5 million settlement in a class action over a fire allegedly ignited by welding work in rural NSW, despite a handful of objections from group members. 

The top judge in NSW has called for more court resources and funding to ease the burden of an overworked judiciary, in an impassioned speech backed by the state’s solicitors and barristers.

The latest judge to join the NSW Supreme Court has expressed a desire to foster a serious but collegiate environment for advocates and has remarked on the rising importance of legal directories for barristers. 

Sydney real estate group The Agency has lost an appeal in its trade mark case against a rival, with the Full Federal Court upholding a finding that the company would have an “unwarranted monopoly” if other businesses were barred from using the descriptive words in its name.

An environmental group has lost its case alleging the federal government failed to take climate change into account when it renewed an agreement for logging in New South Wales, with a judge saying it was a ‘political’ issue rather than one for the courts.

The New South Wales government wants to strike out class action claims that police conducted illegal strip searches at music festivals in the state ‘as a matter of routine’ and that it should face exemplary damages.

The NSW Court of Appeal has issued a judgment contradicting a finding from its Victorian counterpart, ruling that law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell can recover costs for work done by its own solicitors in a lawsuit against a former client in which the firm represented itself.