An appeals court has found that a judge was not justified in dismissing a negligence case by a call centre worker who left her job over abusive phone calls, saying the judge failed to engage with the issues needed to decide the dispute.
Class action settlement approval hearings are not a time for the court to second guess a law firm’s contingency fee as set down in a group costs order, a judge has found, but the question of proportionality is still key, and evidence of a firm’s return on investment and hourly fees may be relevant to the final decision.
A property developer has been ordered to pay $11.2 million to the liquidators of Plutus Payroll after a judge found he helped an employee of the defunct payroll services company “wash” money he blackmailed from the company’s directors.
A judge has thrown out a defamation case by John Peros, the former boyfriend of Shandee Blackburn, over a podcast by The Australian dealing with her murder, finding he did not suffer serious harm from the publication.
A class action has been launched seeking “housing justice” for Aboriginal tenants living in alleged substandard public housing in Western Australia.
An underpayments class action against Sydney Trains has flagged an application to exclude unregistered group members from any settlement, as the High Court steps in to resolve an appellate court split on the power to make class closure orders.
The NSW appeals court has clarified the operation of the Uniform Law in the state, finding that insurers offering professional indemnity insurance to legal practitioners must be approved by the state’s Attorney General.
Several insurers have won a dispute with two Melbourne businesses about whether an industrial special risks policy can cover losses suffered during COVID-19 lockdowns, with a judge finding the policy did not respond just because there were recorded cases in Melbourne.
The NSW legal community has welcomed to the bench the newest Supreme Court judge, Richard McHugh, who reflected on his good fortune in a ceremony on Tuesday and vowed to try, at least, not to get grumpy.
A retired Melbourne lawyer has been found unfit to practice after a review of his conduct demonstrated “discourteous, gratuitous, and offensive” conduct towards legal officials during proceedings related to his attempts to benefit from an elderly client’s estate.