Events

Assessing claims of privilege involving multidisciplinary firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers that offer legal and accounting services is "inherently awkward", a court heard on the final day of a hearing in a privilege battle between the accounting firm and the ATO.

Approximately 1,000 investors of collapsed stockbroker Halifax Investment Services have challenged a court decision concerning the date of the realisation of their investments which decreased the amounts they could recoup from the company's liquidation.

Merck Sharp & Dohme is seeking to overturn a judgment refusing an extension of a patent covering its Januvia and Janumet diabetes drugs that would have seen the US drug maker of retaining a monopoly over the multibillion dollar medicines beyond July 2022.

Property developer PPK Group is challenging the dismissal of its long-running negligence case against law firm HWL Ebsworth over the $25.5 million sale of Crown-owned Sydney land.

Water supplier and dam operator Seqwater has won its high-stakes challenge to a ruling finding it liable for the 2011 Queensland floods and sticking it with half the damages owed to thousands of class action members.

The High Court has found that media outlets are responsible for the publication of defamatory third-party comments on news stories posted to their Facebook pages, upholding a landmark decision by the NSW Supreme Court.

Botox maker Allergan has successfully challenged a Federal Court judgment dismissing its trade mark lawsuit against an Australian company selling topical creams as an alternative to Botox injections.

Qantas Airways is seeking to overturn a Federal Court finding that its decision to axe 2,000 ground staff and replace them with labour hire workers during the COVID-19 pandemic was made partially to stop workers engaging in industrial action.

The Full Federal Court has issued a severe rebuke to a judge for his decision in an employment dispute, calling the judgment a "disordered stream of consciousness" and saying it had no choice but to send the matter back for a retrial.

Avant Insurance has launched an appeal of a Federal Court judgment ordering it to cover the defence costs of a surgeon facing a class action by breast implant patients of defunct clinic the Cosmetic Institute.