An Australian actor best known for his role on true crime drama series Underbelly is being sued for sexual harassment after he allegedly grabbed an extra on the set of Bikie Wars and forced his tongue into her mouth without consent.
Against a backdrop of an industrial relations system which has diminished union and workers’ power, class actions are again re-emerging as an alternative tool to challenge employers’ unlawful conduct. And in the current class actions landscape, the ability to run closed class proceedings on behalf of union members, or otherwise offer alternative fee arrangements to non-members in open class proceedings, is essential to trade unions’ willingness to embrace the representative proceeding regime, writes Slater & Gordon lawyer Alex Blennerhassett.
The judge overseeing the Ethicon pelvic mesh class action has flagged serious public policy concerns stemming from class identification problems, amid fears that “poorer” patients in the public health system would be less likely to be notified of their rights compared to those in the private system.
A former Ernst & Young principal jailed for at least nine years for his role in a $135 million tax fraud has lost a challenge to two NSW Supreme Court orders barring access to $150 million worth of assets.
The National Tertiary Education Union has asked a court for permission to intervene in support of sacked physics professor and climate skeptic Peter Ridd as he fights James Cook University’s appeal of a $1.2 million judgment against it.
Generic drug maker Juno Pharmaceuticals and US-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals have reached an in-principle settlement in their trans-Pacific dispute over two patents covering breakthrough anti-cancer medication Velcade.
Imposing an injunction in general form against a patent infringer is not an undue burden in and of itself, the Full Federal Court has ruled in siding with printer giant Seiko Epson in its ongoing intellectual property fight with cartridge reseller Calidad.
The admissibility of print-outs from the “Wayback Machine – Internet Archive” website is increasingly being considered by the Federal Court of Australia. The decision of Justice Burley in Dyno Nobel Inc v Orica Explosives Technology Pty Ltd on September 17 provides clear insight to the court’s approach to Wayback evidence and the circumstances in which it might be admissible, writes Bird & Bird’s Lynne Lewis and Angelica Sorn.
Lawyers pursuing a class action against Scenic Tours on behalf of passengers whose European cruises were interrupted by severe flooding have been granted preliminary discovery as they weigh a second multi-million dollar class action against the company over cancellations caused by last year’s severe drought conditions.
An investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has come under fire by the banks and directors targeted in a criminal case over alleged cartel conduct that claim the regulator “contaminated” key evidence and improperly used material supplied by ASIC.