News

The Full Federal Court recently had the opportunity to give detailed consideration to the interpretation of the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 for the very first time in 30 years.

On 15 December 2016, the High Court dismissed applications for special leave brought by the four plaintiffs, Ms Palmer, Ms Hayes, Ms Harris and Ms Greenhalgh. The High Court’s decision reaffirmed the decision of the Queensland Court of Appeal on 29 July 2016.

You may be aware that the Australian Consumer Law renders unfair terms in standard form consumer contracts void.

On 5 October 2016, the Full Bench of the High Court delivered its judgment unanimously dismissing an appeal by Ms Gaye Lyons against the Queensland Court of Appeal’s decision in which Ms Lyons’ claim of impairment discrimination was dismissed.

In Martin v Andrews and Anor [2016] QSC 020, the court awarded future economic loss of $750,000 to a person who had been assessed as having a five per cent whole person impairment, despite the fact that an occupational therapist believed the claimant could work at full capacity until retirement age and surveillance footage showed the plaintiff mobilising without apparent difficulty.