A judge has again suggested the Full Court should weigh in on whether the court has the power to make class closure orders, but the barrister for the applicant in an underpayments class action against Domino’s Pizza told the judge her client may not want to be the test case.
With the Delta variant of the coronavirus thrusting Australia’s largest cities back into a protracted lockdown, lawyers forced to return to remote work for the forseeable future are lamenting the renewed loss of colleague and client connections.
A former Norton Rose Fulbright partner locked in a six-year legal battle with the firm has urged the Full Court to allow a $160,000 damages award in his favour to be recalculated, saying it did not provide enough “sting”, amounting to just $1,500 per partner.
Leading Australian oil and gas producer Santos is accused of misleading the market by “greenwashing” its environmental credentials in a landmark shareholder-led lawsuit filed in the Federal Court.
US footwear company Crocs has taken Mosaic Brands to court for allegedly selling shoes that “flagrantly” copy the look of its unique 13-hole slip-on foam clogs.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has slammed an attempt by a class action to “trawl through” its Chief Executive Officer’s emails in search of correspondence regarding it decision to rebate commissions grandfathered by the Future of Financial Advice reforms.
National Australia Bank has been hit with a $18.5 million fine after admitting to allegations by ASIC that it failed to adequately disclose its adviser fees for five years.
A judge overseeing a Papua New Guinean politician’s defamation lawsuit has criticised Nine’s refusal to take down two allegedly defamatory articles ahead of a delayed trial, saying there was no reason to keep them online except for the publisher’s “pride or ego”.
Reforms by the Morrison government passed earlier this month weakening continuous disclosure obligations will spur corporate defendants to engage in “expensive interlocutory warfare” to shut down class actions right off the bat, and plaintiffs lawyers are waiting to see how the courts interpret the new laws to determine these early strike-out fights.
Insurers Lloyds Australia and QBE want class actions by policyholders who were denied business interruption coverage for COVID-related shutdowns stayed until a related test case in the Federal Court is decided.