Judges

Australia's largest private health insurer Medibank has been hit with a shareholder class action in the wake of a massive cyberattack that left the data of 10 million customers exposed.

Justice Paul Brereton has been appointed to lead the new National Anti-Corruption Commission, with the CEO of AUSTRAC, the Disability Discrimination Commissioner, as well as two senior figures at NSW ICAC also tapped for senior roles.

The NSW state racing authority has won access to communications between public relations firm Cato & Clive and five other racing bodies, including Racing Victoria, as it weighs a lawsuit alleging they plotted to exclude the body from the Australian horseracing industry. 

Port operations provider Engage Marine is seeking to obtain copies of restricted documents in the ACCC’s case against TasPorts, as it mounts its own competition suit against the Tasmanian government-owned body.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra's former boss Emma Dunch has discontinued her unfair dismissal case in which she claimed she was terminated for investigating multiple claims of sexual harassment by musicians.

The Full Court has found that a policy exclusion applies in a dispute between Acciona Infrastructure and Ferrovial Construction and three insurers over coverage for loss and damage caused by heavy rainfall during the construction of the $695 million Pacific Highway in northern New South Wales.

An appeals court has partially sided with Toyota in a challenge to the damages bill assessed by a judge in a class action over defective diesel filters, saying the reduction in value of affected cars should be assessed at 10 per cent, not 17.5 per cent, of the price paid by motorists.

A judge overseeing a competition class action against Queensland power companies Stanwell and CS Energy has warned that judges need to be inventive in how they manage large group proceedings, otherwise the “system will collapse”.

A judge overseeing a $129 million underpayments class action against hospitality giant Merivale has rejected a bid for a second round of opt out notices, finding that even if the first round went straight to employees’ junk or spam folders, it did not follow that they had not been read.

An investor class action has reached a settlement with four former directors of defunct Linchpin Capital, leaving only allegations against AIG Insurance, which is allegedly seeking to withdraw an admission that directors were insured under a D&O policy.