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Hawthorn Football Club settles litigation with Indigenous former players and their partners

By: Georgie Austin and Deniz Coskundag Rioli & Ors v Hawthorn Football Club Ltd (Proceeding No. VIC728/2024) At a glance Hawthorn Football Club has settled its Federal Court proceeding with Indigenous former players, and their partners, in a claim of historic mistreatment and racial discrimination during their time at the Club. The Club published a […]

By : Joshua Weiler Nov 22, 2024 Comments Off

Articles

High Court rejects extending vicarious liability beyond employment

By: Richard Leder OAM, Sean O’Connor, Rhyse Collins and Deniz Coskundag Bird v DP [2024] HCA 41 | View previous article summarising the decision At a glance The High Court unanimously found that the Diocese of Ballarat was not vicariously liable for the tortious conduct of one of its priests against the respondent when he […]

By : Joshua Weiler Nov 21, 2024 Comments Off

Articles

Criminal trial pending as High Court rejects immunity claim of ATO whistleblower

By: Georgie Austin, Natasha Chand and Madeleine Wright At a glance The High Court of Australia refused whistleblower Richard Boyle’s request for an extension to file an appeal challenging his criminal charges related to ATO disclosures. The Court found Boyle’s appeal had insufficient prospects of success, upholding a previous decision that denied him statutory immunity […]

By : Joshua Weiler Nov 12, 2024 Comments Off

Articles

Sand pit or legal pit? Court confirms a school’s duty of care when supervising sports

By: Meisha Tjiong, William Yeo and Hannah Turl At a glance On 4 and 17 October 2024, the District Court of NSW delivered its decisions in Stanberg v State of New South Wales [2024] NSW DC 462, and entered a judgment for the State with the Plaintiff to pay the State’s party/party costs and partial […]

By : Joshua Weiler Nov 11, 2024 Comments Off

Articles

Damages update: Victorian Court of Appeal reassesses damages in historical abuse case

By: Jonathan Maher and Tushka Sridharan At a glance The Court of Appeal reduced the jury’s $1.1 million award of pain and suffering damages to $550,000, deeming the original amount “manifestly excessive”, aligning it with judge-alone awards in similar cases. The jury’s $1.3 million exemplary damages award was set aside entirely, with the Court of […]

By : Joshua Weiler Nov 11, 2024 Comments Off

Articles

Limitation period for statutory building warranty claims

By: Bill Conor and Julian Amato At a glance The court reaffirmed that claims for building defects made pursuant to the statutory warranties under section 32 of the Building Work Contractors Act 1995 (SA) must be filed within a strict 5-year period from practical completion, emphasising the Act’s balance between builder and homeowner interests. The 10-year […]

By : Joshua Weiler Nov 5, 2024 Comments Off

Articles

Federal Court finds Senator Pauline Hanson’s tweet to be racially discriminatory

By: Georgie Austin, Zoe Burchill and Deniz Coskundag At a glance The Federal Court of Australia recently found that Senator Pauline Hanson breached s 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act for a post published on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). In 2022, Senator Mehreen Faruqi posted a tweet about the monarchy, in which Senator […]

By : Joshua Weiler Nov 4, 2024 Comments Off

Articles

To care, or not to care: when does a public agency owe a private duty?

By: Patrick Thompson and James Clohesy At a glance The UK Supreme Court has delivered another judgment dealing with when a public authority can owe a private duty of care to members of the public. The decision reaffirms what is becoming a bright line distinction in the UK between cases where the public authority, by […]

By : Joshua Weiler Nov 1, 2024 Comments Off

Articles

Security for costs rejected and enforcement of costs order stayed – analysis of written reasons in Lehrmann decision

By: Georgie Austin, Zoe Burchill and Anthea Dres At a glance On 22 October 2024, Justice Abraham granted Bruce Lehrmann the authority to appeal his defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson. The respondents had sought security in the amount of $200,000 for their costs of the appeal proceeding and this application was subsequently […]

By : Joshua Weiler Nov 1, 2024 Comments Off

Articles, Case Alerts

Tort of privacy recognised in Australia

By: Patrick Thompson At a glance In Lynn Waller v Romy Barrett [2024] VCC 962, the plaintiff successfully argued that the defendant breached her confidences and invaded her privacy by disclosing private details from counselling sessions to media outlets, leading to damages awarded. Judge Tran recognised a distinct cause of action for invasion of privacy […]

By : Joshua Weiler Oct 30, 2024 Comments Off

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