Companies

Network Ten and News Corp have mounted truth defences in response to a defamation suit by accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann, arguing the claim that he raped fellow Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019 is substantially true.

The Finance Sector Union has launched a test case against National Australia Bank on behalf of four managers who were allegedly required to work "unreasonable" unpaid hours for years and has warned it will go after the other big banks next.

A judge has expressed “reluctance” at a bid for accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann to face cross-examination at an upcoming hearing over whether his defamation claims against Network Ten, News Corp and two journalists should be tossed for being brought out of time.

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.

A judge has approved a $12 million payment to the funder of two franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven, even as the funder plans to appeal a decision rejecting its bid for a common fund order for a $24.5 million commission.

The Full Federal Court has set aside a $150,000 defamation judgment for sports presenter Erin Molan and remitted the matter for a new trial, after finding a judge failed to properly consider publisher the Daily Mail's defence of contextual truth.

A judge has shaved $80,000 off the damages recently awarded to a Papua New Guinea politician who sued Fairfax Media over a series of articles published in the Australian Financial Review, after finding she wrongly discounted a mitigation defence by the publisher.

A law firm has won its second bid for a group costs order in three class actions against banks over flexible commission schemes after a judge in 2021 rejected what was then the first-ever application for a contingency fee.

Network Ten has fired back at journalist Tegan George’s reworked sex discrimination case, claiming that its alleged failure to prevent a “sexually hostile, demeaning and oppressive” culture was not unlawful under the Fair Work Act.

A class action against KPMG and nine former Gunns Plantations directors over the failure of six managed investment schemes for eucalyptus wood in Tasmania has settled for a confidential amount, with a judge poised to approve the deal.