A judge has hit a Port Melbourne container terminal with costs for wasting time in a $80 million lawsuit against the CFMEU over picketing at the world’s first fully automated container terminal, finding the company’s explanations for the delay, including that COVID-19 had slowed it down, were “inconsistent” and “odd”.
Trial is set to begin February 2 in a $100 million shareholder class action against Woolworths over a February 2015 profit downgrade that allegedly led to a drop in the company’s share price.
Law firm Clayton Utz and litigation funder Investor Claim Partners have joined forces to bring a class action against insurers who have denied business interruption claims by business impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A former portfolio manager of IOOF has sued the firm for discrimination and breaches of the Fair Work Act, alleging she was groped on the breasts by a high ranking senior executive on her wedding day.
At least five law firms are investigating lawsuits, including class action proceedings, in the wake of a landmark test case on COVID-19 exclusions for business interruption cover.
While there was no shortage of pain and challenges for law firms as the coronavirus raged across the globe last year, a number of big firms also felt the sting of litigation from disgruntled clients, partners and employees.
Payouts in class actions in 2020 largely kept pace with the previous year despite the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, with companies and other defendants paying more than $696 million to settle class actions last year.
A judge has rejected a bid by Uber to significantly trim a class action brought by Maurice Blackburn on behalf of successors and assignees or taxi drivers after the law firm unsuccessfully sought to add them to a separate class action against the ride share giant.
The Transport Workers’ Union has amended its case against Qantas challenging a decision to outsource 2,000 jobs, after a Federal Court judge urged the union to consider narrowing the lawsuit against the airline.
Lawyers for the lead applicant in a stayed class action against Bayer-owned Monsanto over its weedkiller Roundup cannot access discovered documents in a separate class action against the agricultural giant in advance of mediation next year.