The High Court will deliver judgment Wednesday in an appeal by Qantas over its decision to sack its ground crew at the height of COVID-19, a ruling that could determine the scope of adverse action protections under the Fair Work Act.
A judge who eviscerated a prior bid by a law firm and funder to take home 60 per cent of a $5 million class action settlement with Tyro has allowed them to net half of the proceeds, questioning whether some of the costs amounted to a “complete breach” of legal professional duties.
A judge has approved a $5 million class action settlement against payment processor Tyro over a service outage but has shredded the proposed funder payout and legal fees that would have comprised 60 per cent of the sum, calling the costs “outrageous”.
If Qantas triumphs in its High Court appeal of a ruling that found it violated the Fair Work Act when it outsourced ground crew at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, it would create a “whack-a-mole” legal right to terminate disadvantaged people, the Transport Workers Union has argued.
The High Court has granted leave to the applicant in a class action against Carnival PLC to appeal a ruling that upheld a class action waiver in tickets bought by foreign passengers on the ill-fated Ruby Princess in 2020.
The High Court has revoked special leave to Facebook to challenge a case by the privacy commissioner, finding that the social media giant’s grounds of appeal no longer involved issues of public importance.
Lawyerly’s Litigation Law Firms of 2022 racked up precedent-setting victories in a year that continued to see major developments in class action law.
Insurer Allianz has won its challenge to a decision forcing it to indemnify a north Queensland body corporate for cyclone damage despite non-disclosure of serious building defects, with the High Court finding insurers have no general duty to be “decent and fair”.
A COVID-19 outbreak aboard the Ruby Princess that left 28 people dead was “something that was very likely to happen” and the cruise should never have sailed, a court heard as a class action trial against Carnival PLC kicked off.
The High Court will take up Meta’s challenge to the privacy commissioner’s case over the Cambridge Analytica data breach, giving the court the chance to rule on the jurisdictional reach of Australian regulators in their pursuit of US tech giants.