Subject

The judge overseeing ASIC’s first COVID-19-related case has criticised personal lender ClearLoans’ delay in responding to the case, saying a change in the company’s legal representation was not an excuse for defaulting on court orders.

With the Delta variant of the coronavirus thrusting Australia’s largest cities back into a protracted lockdown, lawyers forced to return to remote work for the forseeable future are lamenting the renewed loss of colleague and client connections.

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority will soon make its case directly to an appeals court that it can rely on defences limiting its liability to farmers in a class action alleging negligent oversight of the river system, a question that could have implications for other climate change cases against government agencies.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority must develop policies to protect the environment from the threat of climate change, a judge has found in a significant victory for climate advocates.

Leading Australian oil and gas producer Santos is accused of misleading the market by “greenwashing” its environmental credentials in a landmark shareholder-led lawsuit filed in the Federal Court.

The CFMEU has abandoned its landmark multi-million dollar class action against labour hire company Workpac following the High Court’s ruling that dashed the hopes of casual workers seeking leave entitlements.

Insurers Lloyds Australia and QBE want class actions by policyholders who were denied business interruption coverage for COVID-related shutdowns stayed until a related test case in the Federal Court is decided.

The Australian Bar Association has criticised “flawed” methodology used to analyse the competency of judges, weighing in on controversy over the Australian Law Reform Commission’s handling of a submission to its judicial impartiality inquiry.

The heavy toll of COVID-related border closures on businesses in northern New South Wales could trigger a class action lawsuit, a lawyers has warned, as the political debate heats up over a proposal to move the border 7km south to the Tweed River.

A judge has thrown out a protester’s lawsuit challenging Victoria’s stay-at-home orders during the state’s extended lockdown last year, saying the relevant provisions in the government’s emergency legislation were valid “in all their potential operations”.