The Federal Court has found that Meriton Serviced Apartments (Meriton) engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct regarding online reviews of its properties posted on the TripAdvisor website. Background to the case TripAdvisor provides a “Review Express” service to participating businesses. A participating business provides TripAdvisor with the contact details of customers who have consented to … Read more
In the recent decision handed down by the High Court of Australia in Thorne v Kennedy, the enforceability of Binding Financial Agreements was considered. This decision has been eagerly awaited by the family law community due to the ramifications for parties and practitioners regarding existing and future Binding Financial Agreements. Background This case involved a … Read more
By Clea Cole (Lawyer), Bridget Hobbs (Lawyer) and Jack Stuk (Principal Solicitor) After a costly and time-consuming court battle between a deceased’s surviving family members, the Supreme Court of Queensland has dispensed with the formal signing requirements for a Will and found that an unsent text message on a mobile phone can operate as a … Read more
Profit opportunities for franchise systems arising from changes to competition laws When your franchise system was established, considerable thought was given to the profit centres it would create and achieving from them a return satisfactory to the system and/or its shareholders, which at the same time provided an acceptable income to your franchisees to justify … Read more
The long-awaited decision on the New Zealand National Party’s (NZNP) use of an “Eminem Esque” track in its 2014 election campaign has finally been handed down. Justice Helen Cull of the New Zealand High Court found that the NZNP ripped-off Eminem’s hit Lose Yourself and ordered the NZNP to pay Eminem’s publisher NZ$600,000 in damages. … Read more
On this episode of JOY Law, I spoke about legal issues affecting intersex people, including: historic and current legal rights; parental decisions about “special medical procedures” (and what these are); birth certificates and assigning gender at birth; the definition of “intersex”; and state-by-state differences in legal rights relating to intersex people. Listen to the podcast … Read more
By Josephine Mammone (Trainee Lawyer), Kate Davey (Senior Associate) and Paul Welling (Principal Solicitor) On 27 October 2017, the Federal Court imposed a significant penalty, totaling $1 million, against financial services firm NSG Services Pty Ltd (NSG) in what ASIC has described as ‘the first civil penalty imposed on a financial services licensee for breaches … Read more
A recent Federal Court decision regarding the unfair contract terms regime provides valuable guidance for businesses regarding the types of terms which may be declared void. Background In November 2016, the existing unfair contract term protections for individual consumers were extended to cover standard form contracts with small businesses. The effect of this … Read more
A Testamentary Trust is a trust created under a Will, which comes into effect only after the death of the person making the Will (the Testator). Essentially, upon the death of the Testator, their assets belong to the Trust, rather than going directly to any beneficiary of the Will. By choosing independent trustees for your … Read more
