The Queensland Supreme Court has upheld the legality of litigation funding agreements in a landmark class action judgment that could have a ripple effect across other states in Australia.
The Queensland Supreme Court judge has refused to transfer proceedings by villa owners against Clive Palmer’s abandoned Sunshine Coast resort to the Federal Court, but has also rejected a separate bid by Palmer to shut down the case, which has been dormant for six years.
Businessman Clive Palmer has lost an application to put a stop to a trial in a case brought by the liquidators of collapsed Queensland Nickel after arguing the proceeding was continuing largely to pay the litigation funder bankrolling the case.
Australian coal miner Moreton Resources has won a Full Federal Court appeal over tax offsets it claims are owed over a failed pilot project testing underground coal gasification, a process which was ultimately banned in Queensland.
The Federal Court has given the Victorian arm of Grocon Constructors more time to comply with a $13.9 million judgment in an ongoing lease dispute over a Brisbane office tower, after the construction company promised to file its appeal of the ruling “with diligence and expedition”.
The Queensland government has agreed to pay $190 million to resolve an historic class action on behalf of 10,000 Indigenous workers for unpaid wages spanning over 30 years.
The Full Federal Court has ordered a retrial in a landmark Fair Work Ombudsman case that saw the owner of a Cairns tour company sentenced to 12 months’ jail, criticizing the sentencing judge for being “sarcastic, disparaging and dismissive” of the tour operator’s evidence.
Slater & Gordon has struck back against allegations by a former senior solicitor that he was fired after making complaints about the law firm’s arrangement with a third-party funder for personal injury clients, denying any unethical practices and arguing the lawyer’s termination was part of a cost-cutting restructure.
A former senior lawyer at Slater & Gordon has filed a lawsuit against his old employer, claiming he was fired after complaining about allegedly unethical practices within the firm.
Industry-owned Queensland Sugar Limited has succeeded in dismissing a court case brought by Wilmar Sugar Australia after record-high rainfalls led to a $60.8 million loss in 2010.