COVID-19

Four insurers have argued that class actions over alleged business interruption losses during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic should be de-classed, with one insurer saying group members cannot “go behind” a Full Court decision denying coverage for certain policyholders.

The liquidator of a security firm that collapsed after being sued over Victoria’s hotel quarantine debacle has taken the firm’s former lawyers, Clyde & Co, to court.

A judge has raised concerns about bids to declass group proceedings over alleged business interruption losses during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the thousands of policyholders who registered for the class actions might reap more from the cases than making claims directly with their insurers.

The Chief Justice of the NSW Supreme Court has expressed concerns about a “slide in public respect” for institutions such as the court and the creeping phenomenon of “truth decay”.

A group of DP World workers previously found to have been “blindsided” by their dismissal for refusing a mandatory COVID-19 jab have failed in a bid to appeal a decision that found their reinstatement inappropriate.

Charges accusing Victoria’s Department of Health of health and safety breaches during the state’s hotel quarantine program have been dropped on the eve of trial, after the state succeeded in excluding evidence submitted to an inquiry into the disastrous program.

A Sydney solicitor has lost his bid to summarily dismiss the legal watchdog’s case alleging he set up misleading crowdfunding pages seeking funding for class actions over government orders requiring mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, as well as another class action that was never filed.

The state of Victoria has won its bid to prevent lawyers for a class action over Victoria’s COVID-19 hotel quarantine debacle from proofing lay witnesses, ahead of a criminal trial against the Department of Health, which is due to start in May.

A judge has chided the Transport Workers Union for announcing at the start of trial that it intends to seek lost union dues from Qantas, as a hearing kicked off over the amount of compensation the airline owes to ground crew, whose jobs were illegally outsourced at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Former AFL player and sports presenter Warren Tredea has failed in his $1.5 million breach of contract case against Channel 9, which terminated an agreement with him for refusing to have a COVID-19 vaccine.