Events

A dispute over approximately $466,000 in unpaid legal costs has been sent to the Victorian Supreme Court after DLA Piper admitted it breached its disclosure obligations to a client in a patent case over a laser safety system.

Six law firms are working on a consolidated trial of multiple class actions over the collapse of retailer Dick Smith, but when the trial opened in the NSW Supreme Court this week, a lone barrister appeared in court before Justice Michael Ball, amid a sea of empty bar tables. Most of the hearing's participants joined through a virtual courtroom while members of the public were invited to watch the trial unfold on a YouTube live stream. Welcome to litigating in the age of the coronavirus.

Fairfax Media has failed in its appeal of a judgment that found the publisher defamed Chinese-Australian businessman Dr Chau Chak Wing in a Sydney Morning Herald article that linked him to an international bribery scandal.

AFT Pharmaceuticals has lost its challenge to a ruling that ads claiming its painkiller Maxigesic is more effective than Nuremol were misleading and deceptive, with the Full Federal Court saying the primary judge did not err in finding the ads lacked an adequate scientific basis.

Billionaire Clive Palmer has lost his appeals court fight to shut down criminal proceedings alleging his resort company breached takeover laws, with three judges saying his claims were untenable.

HWL Ebsworth is on the hook for the legal costs of an unfair dismissal case won by ex-partner Tim Griffiths, and the law firm must pay almost two years of legal bills on an indemnity basis after it twice refused an offer of settlement.

The Full Federal Court has thrown out an appeal by a former special counsel of HWL Ebsworth, ruling the senior practitioner was reasonably fired for violating the firm's media policy in press interviews and not because of his political views.

BP has appealed a ruling from the Fair Work Commission that reinstated a worker who was fired for sharing a video clip which included subtitles placed over a scene from the movie Downfall about Adolf Hitler.

Personal healthcare giant PZ Cussons is seeking $4.7 million in indemnity costs from the ACCC, claiming the regulator's much hyped spoke and hub case over an alleged laundry detergent cartel was always "overwhelmingly likely" to fail.

BHP Billiton must pay $125 million in added taxes after the High Court struck down its appeal in a dispute with the Australian Tax Office over taxes on income from its Singapore marketing hub.