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The Victoria Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit by restaurant owner and Liberal member Michelle Loielo challenging the validity of the Victoria government's now dropped COVID-19 curfew, with a judge finding that the measure was legal and "proportionate to the purpose of protecting public health".

Federal Court Justices Jacqueline Gleeson and Simon Steward are safe and steady appointments to the High Court that are unlikely to disrupt the current culture of the bench and do nothing to assuage concerns about the opacity of the selection process.

The Morrison government has picked Federal Court Justices Simon Steward and Jacqueline Gleeson to fill the impending vacancies on the High Court.

A fight is brewing over whether US and UK passengers aboard the Ruby Princess should be part of a class action against cruise operators Carnival and Princess Cruise Lines over their handling of a deadly coronavirus outbreak on the ship that has been linked to at least 20 deaths.

The Victorian government has not decided how it will respond to a constitutional challenge brought in the High Court against the state's COVID-19 lockdown measures, and has been given just four more days to make its move. 

The High Court has declined to review $280,000 in damages awarded to a lawyer, after an appeals court found a Today Tonight segment labelling her a "Centrelink cheat" was defamatory.

A Sorrento bar owner backed by two high profile barristers is taking the Andrews government to the High Court claiming Victoria's lockdown is an unconstitutional restriction on the freedom of movement of the state's 6.6 million residents.

The High Court has declined to weigh in on the patentability of software, rejecting e-commerce company Rokt's bid for review of a decision striking down its marketing invention.

Qantas has praised a Federal Court judgment ruling that the airline had no "genuine choice" other than standing down its workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the judgment was a "victory for common sense".