The state of Victoria is making a bid to suppress its defence in a class action brought over the 2020 hotel quarantine fiasco, as it faces a “substantially altered” indictment in a related criminal proceeding.
A judge has found that penalty privilege cannot be used to avoid the production of books under the Corporation Act.
Troubled professional services firm PwC has lost two partners to law firms Corrs Chambers Westgarth and DLA Piper.
A judge has signed off on a 25 per cent group costs order in a class action against Suncorp subsidiary AAI, after accepting that the back-up plan of law firm Maurice Blackburn was not artificially uncertain.
The Fair Work Commission has found that insurer IAG did not unfairly dismiss a veteran employee after a company review of her at-home cyber activity revealed extensive periods of “no or minimal keyboard activity”.
A barrister is taking a dispute over his $320,000 bill to the High Court, but a judge has cast doubt on the appeal’s prospects of success.
The judge asked to approve a settlement in a class action against retirement village provider Aveo has sent a shot across the bow to law firms seeking to make broad confidentiality claims over the settlement, saying such claims should be kept “to a minimum” in class actions.
The Federal Court has granted a bid by plaintiffs in competing class actions against Downer EDI to transfer their cases to the Victoria Supreme Court, where a four-way contest will take place.
The High Court has dismissed a constitutional appeal by Irish insurer Zurich, clearing the way for a class action over an allegedly defective New Zealand apartment block to proceed in the NSW Supreme Court.
Tax advisers and firms promoting tax avoidance could face penalties of up to $780 million, as part of a suite of reforms the government is calling “the biggest crackdown on tax adviser misconduct in Australian history”.