New South Wales

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s former boss Emma Dunch has discontinued her unfair dismissal case in which she claimed she was terminated for investigating multiple claims of sexual harassment by musicians.

The Full Court has found that a policy exclusion applies in a dispute between Acciona Infrastructure and Ferrovial Construction and three insurers over coverage for loss and damage caused by heavy rainfall during the construction of the $695 million Pacific Highway in northern New South Wales.

Construction company Richard Crookes plans to appeal a ruling which found the Security of Payment Act is available to insolvent builders to pursue debts under a deed of company arrangement, despite an amendment to the law preventing construction companies in liquidation from enforcing payment claims.

The fifth and final defendant named in a criminal proceeding over a $105 million tax fraud involving payroll services company Plutus Payroll has been found guilty for his part in the scheme.

A director at office leasing company Cushman & Wakefield who accepted a job with a competitor has lost a bid to lift an injunction keeping her on garden leave for three months, with a judge finding she was the “author of her own misfortune” for failing to read her employment contract.

An appeals court has dismissed a challenge in a lengthy legal drama between the children of one of Australia’s richest families, finding that a lawsuit over $200 million in Lendlease purchase options was not brought in good faith.

A judge has questioned a bid by cruise operator Scenic Tours to water down a class action brought over a series of European cruises that went ahead in 2018 despite a record-breaking drought that saw river levels drop so low they became impassable.

A class action against KPMG and nine former Gunns Plantations directors over the failure of six managed investment schemes for eucalyptus wood in Tasmania has settled for a confidential amount, with a judge poised to approve the deal.

Aussie Skips and CEO Emmanuel Roussakis have pleaded guilty to price fixing over the supply of skip bins and demolition waste services in Sydney.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has lost its challenge to a decision that tossed its case alleging NSW Ports stymied competition when it signed a 50-year agreement with the state to privatise two ports.