A former manager at the NSW Roads and Maritime Services awarded over $12.2 million in government contracts to two companies owned by his friends, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption has found.
With the Australian Labor Party to form government after Saturday’s election defeat for the Coalition, class action lawyers are looking forward to reforms that expand access to justice, enshrine the court’s power to supervise costs and wind back Morrison-era legislation.
Actor Craig McLachlan has dropped his defamation suit against the ABC, Fairfax and actress Christie Whelan Browne mid-trial just as the defence was due to start its case.
The applicants in a class action against The Cosmetic Institute and twelve doctors over allegedly “incompetent” breast augmentation surgery have won court approval to expand their case to allege misleading and deceptive conduct and breaches of the consumer guarantees in the Australian Consumer Law.
Clive Palmer-owned Queensland Nickel Sales has lost its bid to bring a breach of trust lawsuit against the liquidators of Queensland Nickel to recoup $102 million transferred after the billionaire suffered a courtroom defeat last year.
The High Court has refused Sydney retail personality Con Constantine’s bid to challenge a $4.25 million judgment in his favour over the $81.8 million Parklea Markets sale in 2016.
A long-running class action over the Opal Tower disaster has settled, along with two related cases over the defective building, as a five-week trial was set to begin.
Shine Lawyers has beaten out class action rival Piper Alderman in a battle to lead a class action worth up to $463 million against collapsed wealth managers Dixon Advisory, with a judge finding the firm’s no win, no fee model was likely to result in a greater return to group members.
A judge deciding one of the first ever applications by a law firm for a percentage cut of a class action will have to determine whether Victoria’s ground-breaking contingency fee legislation allows a group costs order to operate with a sliding percentage return.
Two insurers have won an appeal that blocks group members in a class action against sandalwood producer Quintis from receiving a further $11.25 million after a settlement was reached almost two years ago.