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New High Court Chief Justice Stephen Gageler was lauded by a group of legal luminaries at a swearing in ceremony, where he was described as the “unbackable favourite” for the country’s highest legal post and “the judge’s judge”.

The High Court has granted special leave to a First Nations woman in her case for damages against Queensland stemming from alleged abuse in state care 60 years ago.

Glencore-owned Viterra has failed in its bid for High Court leave to challenge a ruling in a 10-year battle with Cargill over the 2013 sale of malt producer Joe White, leaving the grain producer to fork over damages of almost $300 million.

The High Court has declined to weigh in on a dispute between a retired law firm partner and the ATO over tax on $182,000 in goodwill payments the lawyer received upon exiting the firm’s partnership.

AustralianSuper has admitted that it contravened superannuation regulations when it failed to merge the accounts of members who had multiple accounts, but says it has remediated affected customers more than $69 million.

The Chief Justice of South Australia has corrected JK Rowling’s “completely unfounded” fears about a new practice note relating to the use of preferred gender pronouns in the state’s courts, after the Harry Potter author took to Twitter to criticise it.

The High Court has refused to throw out a personal injury case over 55-year-old child sexual abuse claims, despite the death of the alleged perpetrator and most relevant witnesses, saying a permanent stay is a “measure of last resort”. 

The High Court has found that tenants can be compensated for distress and disappointment caused by a landlord’s failure to meet a statutory requirement to maintain the security of a property, in a case brought by an elderly tenant from a remote Indigenous community whose house had no back door for over five years.

Twenty-four former clients of Melissa Caddick who were defrauded out $24.5 million have filed a class action against the auditors of the self-managed superannuation funds they used to invest their retirement savings with the Sydney fraudster.

A judge has refused a bid by four major insurers to obtain the names of small businesses that register to join COVID-19 business interruption class actions, saying he did not want the companies contacting group members.