Region

Australia’s financial crimes agency has sounded the alarm on organised crime risks at two casinos in Far North Queensland and the Northern Territory.

A judge has signed off on a confidential settlement in a class action over off-the-plan homes in a proposed north-west Sydney development, including a clause that prevents group members from making any public statements about the suit or disparaging the parties. 

Pembroke Resources has lost its appeal bid over the meaning of “restricted land” after the private equity-backed miner argued a court’s ruling could impinge on plans for a $1 billion steel-making coal mine in Queensland.

The owner of Seasons of Perth Hotel has notched a partial victory in its fight with construction company Reward Group over performance bonds.

After 50 directions hearings, a long-running dispute between the owners of a 23-storey building in Docklands and insurer AAI will go to trial next year, a fed-up judge has said.

A legal challenge over a Sydney private school's plans to go co-ed has been dismissed, with a judge ruling the word "youth" in the school's 150-year old founding document had a gender neutral meaning.

The Legal Practice Board in Western Australia has confirmed it was the victim of a data breach, with the bank details of the board and a small number of practitioners said to have been accessed.

A former client of Coleman Grieg has lost her challenge to alleged “exorbitant” fees charged by the law firm, with a judge also rejecting her contention that she signed costs notices under duress.

A judge has balked at Maurice Blackburn's hourly rates in a jointly run class action against Treasury Wine Estates, questioning why the firm charged 20 per cent more than fellow preeminent class action firm Slater & Gordon. 

Lendlease can't bring new claims in an unsuccessful fight over Campbelltown plots worth $120 million, with a judge finding it was not appropriate to allow the amendments "at this very late stage".