Perhaps the most important unanswered question in Australian class action law is how causation may be established in the context of a shareholder class action In the United States this issue has been addressed by the fraud on the market theory This week the US Supreme Court rejected a challenge to ...

Record US penalties recently imposed on car manufacturers for failures to deal appropriately with safety defects are a timely reminder to Australian manufacturers of their product safety obligations Partner Belinda Thompson Senior Associate Jaime McKenzie and Lawyer Ishwar Singh report ...

Parties involved in large-scale commercial transactions with non-lawyer third-party advisers need to be aware that communications with these advisers will rarely be protected by legal professional privilege following a recent Federal Court decision ...

The High Court recently overturned a NSW Court of Appeal decision that stated a building contractor owed a duty of care for pure economic loss for defective work to a successor in title to the developer of commercial premises. ...

The Access to Justice Arrangements report proposes broad-ranging reforms to our civil justice system with the aim of improving access to justice Partner Belinda Thompson and Lawyer Annie Santamaria highlight some recommendations which also have the potential to impact more broadly on Australias ...

The recent Great Southern class action settlement included a term by which group members acknowledged and admitted that loans taken out with independent financiers to finance investments in Great Southern managed investment schemes were valid and enforceable Two separate Victorian Supreme Court ...

Today the Full Federal Court clarified the law of penalties as it applies to fees The key development is that in considering whether the amount of a fee is extravagant and exorbitant compared to the potential costs incurred in dealing with a failure to perform an obligation the court held that ...

Our Contract Law Update provides an overview of important contract law decisions by Australian appellate courts in the past 12 months and considers their significance for the development of Australian contract law ...

The High Court of Australia has decided that a third party claimant can join an insolvent or potentially insolvent defendants insurer to proceedings to seek a declaration that the insurer is liable to indemnify the defendant Partner Andrew Maher and Lawyer Shelley Drenth discuss the decision and its ...

After months of political stalemate in negotiations with its creditors to unlock access to bailout funds the Greek government has announced a referendum on proposed bailout conditions an extended bank holiday and the imposition of capital controls ...