Insurers will face a flood of pandemic-related claims after an appeals court ruled in a test case brought by the Insurance Council that certain infectious disease exclusions in business interruption cover do not apply to coronavirus-related claims.
The NSW Court of Appeal has passed on the question of whether a judge can make a common fund order when a class action settles to ensure a certain return to litigation funders, but the issue is not going away, whatever the Federal Court’s decision in a parallel case.
Luxury car maker BMW has told the NSW Court of Appeal that the courts do not have power to make common fund orders at any stage of a group proceeding, arguing that such orders would distort the scope of the class action regime by encouraging litigation funders to pursue lawsuits.
Former Leighton Holdings chief financial officer Peter Gregg has won his appeal of convictions last year over an alleged sham contract with a steel supplier, with an appeals court on Wednesday saying there had been a “substantial miscarriage of justice”.
Liquidators for collapsed steel and mining giant Arrium have successfully appealed a court ruling permitting the examination of a former director for a possible shareholder class action, with the Court of Appeal for the NSW Supreme Court finding the “private nature” of the claims was an abuse of process.
The Chief Justice of the NSW Supreme Court told Lawyerly the court will adopt a flexible mixture of virtual and in-person hearings in the long term, as courts and the country slowly awaken from COVID-19 lockdown.
Hong Kong-based casino group Melco Resorts must hand over documents claimed to be privileged to a NSW public inquiry into James Packer’s Crown Resorts, with an appeals court ruling the inquiry had the power of a royal commission.
A Sydney law firm has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation and restitution for breach of its fiduciary duties, after a former client successfully appealed a conflict of interest case.
An appeals court has found insurers AIG Australia and Catlin Australia have to cover part of a $6 million settlement agreed to by Bank of Queensland last year in a class action brought by investors in a multimillion dollar Ponzi scheme by jailed fraudster Bradley Sherwin.
The jailed former CEO of defunct health food business Healthzone has lost his appeal of a criminal conviction and sentence over a conspiracy to fraudulently use a $1 million company bank loan to repay personal debts.