Litigation

The field of competitors in a four-way contest to run a shareholder class action against Downer EDI over a $40 million profit overstatement has narrowed with the consolidation of three cases, leaving one firm to face criticism over its comparative inexperience running group proceedings. 

The judge hearing a trial in defamation cases by former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann against TV broadcasters ABC and Ten has said he expects both Lehrmann and alleged rape victim Brittany Higgins to take the witness stand.

A judge has refused infant formula company Care A2's bid to block US business partner Gensco from filing a lawsuit in Florida that overlaps with a $200 million suit filed in Australian court over a deal to sell formula in the US amid a supply shortage.

A psychiatrist who gave expert evidence in a lawyer’s human rights case against his former employer cannot be sued for negligence because he is protected by witness immunity, a judge has found. 

A self-represented aged pensioner has lost his bid to revive a class action against the Department of Social Services over its real estate asset testing for pensions, with a judge saying that a legal practitioner must represent group members. 

A former Qantas customer service manager can't undo a $75,000 settlement she reached to resolve a workers compensation claim in order to pursue a discrimination suit against the airline, a court has found.

A judge who found that Ben Roberts-Smith committed war crimes has recused himself from deciding whether the Office of the Special Investigator can access evidence in the former SAS corporal's defamation case for its own investigation into war crimes in Afghanistan.