Australia Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found that former government adviser Bruce Lehrmann raped a colleague in a Parliament House office on Monday. The judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit Lehrmann brought against the Australian media company Network Ten after it aired an interview with his accuser, Brittany Higgin. Lee found that, under the civil standard [...]
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UK court finds Mozambique president cannot be sued in UK over bribery allegations
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi cannot be sued in English courts over allegations that he accepted unlawful bribery payments as part of Mozambique’s “tuna bond” scandal, according to a Thursday decision from the English Court of Appeal. The money laundering scheme nearly crashed Mozambique’s economy and embezzled individuals worldwide. The Court of Appeal ruled that Nyusi [...]
The Australian Federal Court dismissed a legal challenge to the construction of a gas export pipeline along the submerged cultural heritage of the Tiwi Nation on Monday. During the hearing, the court dismissed the application and discharged a temporary injunction that had halted gas giant Santos from commencing work in November last year on their [...]
Australia court dismisses environmentalist challenge to native logging operations
The Federal Court of Australia dismissed Wednesday a challenge seeking to extend an intergovernmental forestry agreement. As a result, logging operations in native forests are set to continue along the New South Wales (NSW) coastline. The North East NSW Regional Forest Agreement (North East RFA) is an agreement between the federal government and NSW state [...]
US Supreme Court rules in favor of DOJ power to dismiss whistleblower lawsuits
The US Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) can retain its power to dismiss third-party federal whistleblower actions filed on behalf of the government under the False Claims Act (FCA). The FCA allows whistleblowers to sue on behalf of the government to recover taxpayer funds paid under false pretenses, with the [...]
Australia's most decorated living war veteran loses landmark defamation case
Australia’s most decorated living war veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith resigned Friday from his position with Seven West Media following a guilty verdict in a historic defamation case against multiple news companies, who accused Roberts-Smith of committing war crimes during his enlistment in Afghanistan. The Sydney Morning Herald published the first group of articles about Roberts-Smith on [...]
US appeals court requires San Jose school district to recognize religious student group
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Monday held that a San Jose California school district had to officially recognize a Christian student group. The school district derecognized the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) because of a statement of faith the leading members were required to abide by. The statement “include the belief [...]
Australia court rules that Google must pay politician in defamation case
The Federal Court of Australia ordered Google to pay politician John Barilaro, A$715,000 Monday in a landmark defamation case. The court determined that YouTube videos from content creator Jordan Shanks, also known as “friendlyjordies,” calling Barilaro “corrupt” and mocking Barilaro’s Italian heritage violated Australia’s defamation laws. According to the ruling, Shanks statements led to “relentless, [...]
Australia court rules no duty for environmental ministry to protect against climate change
The Australian Federal Court Tuesday overturned a ruling that found that Australia’s environment ministry has a duty to protect young people from the effects of climate change when considering fossil fuel projects. That previous ruling, decided in May of 2021, resulted from a lawsuit filed by eight school students and a nun. The litigants sought [...]
Canada Supreme Court to hear challenge to US-Canada refugee agreement
The Supreme Court of Canada announced Thursday they would hear the appeal of a lower court ruling that re-implemented Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) with the United States. That appellate court ruling followed a federal judge’s 2020 decision that struck the agreement down for violating the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. The [...]