A judge overseeing a class action against the Australian arm of Thai state owned oil giant PTT has rejected attempts to limit the claimed damages from one of Australia’s largest oil spills, saying the disaster was “widespread” across Indonesian islands in the Timor Sea.
The Victorian Supreme Court will push ahead with a hearing for a group costs order in a class action by Arrium shareholders despite requests by the applicants that it be put off until after judgment is issued on the second-ever group costs order request.
Former NSW Labor Minister Ian Macdonald has been sentenced to at least five years in prison, and Eddie Obeid and his son Moses will go to jail for a non parole period of three years for their conspiracy to rig a tender process and secure a coal mining exploration licence for the Obeids’ land in the Bylong Valley.
Engineering services firm CIMIC Group has launched proceedings against ten insurers seeking indemnity for costs arising from allegations the company engaged in corrupt practices, including bribing government officials in Iraq.
Approving coal mine projects is not the business of courts, the Morrison government has argued in its challenge to a landmark class action judgment that found it had a duty of care to protect Australian children from the effects of climate change.
Mining magnate Clive Palmer and two of his mining firms have lost a High Court challenge seeking to overturn a Western Australian law which prevented him from suing the state government for $30 billion over mining tenements in the Pilbara.
Struggling mining firm Griffin Coal has been ordered to pay $5.1 million to liquidators of a collapsed mining services company after a judge found it had breached a contractual term not to trade while insolvent.
Oil and gas producer Santos has successfully challenged the summary dismissal of its claim for recovery of more than $470 million paid to contractor Fluor Corporation in overhead costs incurred after the estimated completion date of gas hubs in the Surat Basin.
Victoria’s environment watchdog has been taken to court over its decision to renew the licences of the state’s three remaining coal power stations, a test case under the state’s Climate Change Act and the latest in a series of climate lawsuits.
The Australian Energy Regulator has filed court proceedings against Hornsdale Energy Reserve, the owner and operator of the world’s second largest lithium-ion battery, for allegedly failing to provide promised contingency services to avoid power disruptions in 2019.