Judges

Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann was reasonably identifiable as Brittany Higgins' alleged rapist in an interview aired on Ten's The Project and articles published by News Corp Australia, according to court documents in defamation cases against the media companies.

Treasury Wine Estates has resolved proceedings against 'wine in a can' maker Barokes alleging the Melbourne-based company's patents are invalid and that it made "unjustified threats" against the Penfolds maker.

A Victorian barrister has been found guilty of contempt of court for representing her sons despite an order barring her from legal practice, but a judge dismissed a call by the legal watchdog to record a criminal conviction, saying the lawyer had not been deliberately defiant.

Stock broker Fortrend Securities has secured an order prohibiting two former advisors from contacting their old clients while they litigate a dispute alleging the advisors conspired with Shaw & Partners to poach customers.

Melbourne craft beer producer Brick Lane Brewing has lost its lawsuit accusing three companies behind the zero carb Better Beer of ripping off its packaging in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.

Liquidators for collapsed forestry giant Gunns Plantations have lost a High Court appeal over $1.2 million in payments to a former supplier that confirmed the so-called peak indebtedness rule does not apply in Australian insolvency law.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has won its appeal against Employsure over alleged misleading Google advertisements, with the Full Federal Court upping the penalty against the specialist workplace relations consultancy from $1 million to $3 million.

Uber has won a strike-out bid in a lawsuit by drivers challenging their classification as independent contractors, with a judge finding the pleading was “self-evidently, uncommonly and irretrievably deficient.”

The family of late pastoralist Thomas Brinkworth can't get security for costs from a landowner bringing a bushfire class action in South Australia, with a court ruling security was unnecessary under the class action rules in the state, which can bind all group members to an adverse costs order.

The Western Australia government has foreshadowed a strike-out application just one month after being hit with a class action on behalf of detainees in the state's detention centres.