Justice Tim Faulkner’s “dessicated” sense of humour was on display during a swearing in ceremony on Thursday, during which the new judge thanked his colleagues on the bench for their handwritten letters of welcome, one of which he said was “completely unreadable”.
Hospitality giant Mantle Group has asked the High Court to find a statement by a full bench of the Fair Work Commission accusing it of acting “extraordinarily and contumaciously” during a dispute about a ‘sham’ enterprise agreement gave rise to an appearance of bias.
A New South Wales developer’s competition case against NSW Ports over a ports privatisation agreement looks bound for the High Court after a judge found a related ACCC proceeding did not bar it from bringing the case, which will challenge a Full Court finding that the ports operator was shielded by derivative Crown immunity.
She earned the nickname ‘Shock and Orr’ as senior counsel assisting the banking royal commission, but the Victoria Court of Appeal’s newest judge told those gathered to welcome her to the bench on Tuesday that she thought twice before accepting the daunting assignment.
Supporting KPMG’s bid to move a class action over the collapse of Arrium from Melboure to Sydney, former directors of the failed steel company have told the High Court the Victoria Supreme Court was impermissibly preferring the policy of its state in finding a contingency fee order made in the case could be factored into a transfer application.
The attorney-general of South Australia wants to intervene in a High Court appeal of a ruling that put Judge Salvatore Vasta on the hook for a man’s false imprisonment, saying the judge was not entitled to immunity but that police and correctional officers were.
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”.
The High Court has been asked to overturn a NSW Court of Appeal decision finding it had no power to exclude unregistered group members from a settlement, which conflicted with Federal Court precedent, hearing the divergence of the important issue “can only be resolved by the High Court”.
The Supreme Court of Victoria has issued ground rules for deploying artificial intelligence in litigation, urging litigants to exercise “particular caution” when using ChatGPT and other generative AI tools to draft affidavits and witness statements.
Australia’s peak legal body has welcomed the injection of funds promised in Tuesday’s budget announcement for the appointment of extra federal judges to clear a backlog in migration and protection visa applications. But the funds allocated to legal assistance services is a “fraction” of what is needed, the Law Council said.