Latest news with #legalVictory
ABC News
08-07-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Lifestyle Communities appeals exit fee ruling
Land lease operator Lifestyle Communities has announced it will appeal a landmark legal victory by residents who accused the company of charging hefty exit fees, as well as continuing to charge fees after residents died. The victory was handed to more than 80 residents of a retirement community in Wollert, in Melbourne's outer north. Guest: Sam Hooper, SC Sam Hooper, SC Producer: Eddy Diamond Lifestyle Communities statement: Lifestyle Communities CEO Henry Ruiz said the company takes its compliance obligations very seriously and has sought legal advice at various stages of its history to ensure contracts are compliant with all relevant legislation. He said the company was disappointed with the outcome. Full statement here.
Daily Mail
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Australian Jewish leaders celebrate as Islamist preacher is banned from making anti-Semitic comments after racist sermons
Australian Jewish leaders have celebrated a win following a legal battle against an Islamist preacher who described their community as 'vile' and 'treacherous'. Sydney-based Al Madina Dawah Centre cleric, Wissam Haddad, was accused of racial discrimination in relation to a series of fiery sermons, which have racked up thousands of views online, since November 2023. The preacher, also known as Abu Ousayd, referred to Jewish people as 'vile, treacherous, murderous, and mischievous'. During the landmark case at the NSW Federal Court in Sydney, leaders from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) argued the online lectures were offensive and could incite violence towards Jews. Justice Angus Stewart found on Tuesday that the speeches were disparaging and likely to offend, insult, harass or intimidate Jewish people. 'The imputations include age-old tropes against Jewish people that are fundamentally racist and anti-Semitic,' he said. 'They make perverse generalisations against Jewish people as a group.' ECAJ's co-chief executive Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot stood proudly outside the court after the verdict which 'vindicated' them. 'It confirms that the days when Jewish communities and the Jewish people can be vilified and targeted, with impunity, are a thing of the past,' Mr Wertheim said. '(This case) was about antisemitism and the abuse of those freedoms in order to promote antisemitism. 'If the 300 ancestry groups and 100 faith communities living in Australia today were all free to vilify one another in the way that Mr Haddad vilified the Jewish people, the door would be wide open to chronic racial and sectarian strife. '(This would be) of the kind that has devastated other countries, and the peace and harmony we have generally enjoyed in Australia would be ruined for everyone.' Mr Goot described the preacher as a 'picture of anti-Semitic hatred', adding that he had brought the case to court to protect the Jewish community's safety. 'No community in this wonderful country should be dehumanised in the way that Mr Haddad treated us,' he said. 'Freedom of expression must not be abused by the promotion of hateful antisemitism. 'Those that wish to do so, should know that that conduct will not be tolerated by us.' The ECAJ leaders' case sought the removal of the published speeches, a public declaration of error and an order restraining Mr Haddad from making similar comments in future. Mr Haddad denied breaching anti-discrimination laws and claimed he was delivering historical and religious lectures on events from the Qur'an to contextualise the war in Gaza. He said he was speaking about 'Jews of faith' rather than ethnicity while trying to explain that 'what the Israeli government is doing to the people of Gaza' is 'not something new'. Ruling against the preacher would be tantamount to restricting the free exercise of religious expression, Mr Haddad's lawyer argued. But Justice Stewart rejected the defence on Tuesday and ordered Mr Haddad to remove the speeches. He directed the preacher not to make any further comments that convey similar disparaging imputations. Mr Haddad has also been ordered to foot the legal bill for the ECAJ which the leaders told reporters would be 'several hundred thousand dollars'. The preacher's speeches were delivered during a time of heightened sensitivity after the designated terror group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking Israeli retaliation that has left the Gaza Strip in turmoil. The reporting of the war prompted questions and concerns from Mr Haddad's congregants and at the same time left Jewish Australians feeling unsafe, the court was told.
Daily Mail
01-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Elon Musk scores HUGE win over Australia's eSafety boss after global row about trans expert plugging bondage, bestiality, drugs, and taxpayer-funded sex-change ops
Elon Musk has won a case against the eSafety Commissioner after it tried to censor an 'offensive post' a Canadian man made about an Australian UN trans expert. Chris Elston, who goes by the name of 'Billboard Chris' on X and lives in Canada, was sent an Orwellian 'removal notice' from the Australian Government's eSafety Commissioner in March 2024. Mr Elston's alleged offence had been to share a Daily Mail story about Teddy Cook, a female-to-male trans Australian activist who landed a job on a World Health Organisation (WHO) expert panel drafting care guidelines for trans and non-binary people. Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety Commissioner, deemed the post to be 'cyber abuse' and ordered X to remove it, prompting both Mr Elston and X to sue the Australian government. On Tuesday night the Administrative Appeals Tribunal ruled late on Tuesday that the post did not meet the definition of cyber abuse and the eSafety Commissioner should not have ordered its removal. 'The more focussed question is whether I can be satisfied that the necessary intention to cause serious harm to the subject of the post has been established,' deputy president Damien O'Donovan noted. 'Based on the evidence before me, I am not satisfied that it has.' The win was hailed as a victory for free speech by Paul Coleman, executive director of ADF International, who funded Mr Elston's legal challenge alongside the Human Rights Law Alliance in Australia. 'This is a decisive win for free speech and sets an important precedent in the growing global debate over online censorship,' Mr Coleman said. 'In this case, the Australian government alarmingly censored the peaceful expression of a Canadian citizen on an American-owned platform, evidence of the expansive reach of censorial forces, even beyond national borders. 'Today, free speech has prevailed.'
Daily Mail
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Blake Lively's victory tour continues as she makes gloating speech at drinks event after Justin Baldoni win
Blake Lively was still reveling in the joy of her blockbuster Justin Baldoni win this week as she made a gushing speech at an event for her drinks company. The It Ends With Us actress, 37, was full of joy as told fans how 'proud' she was of her company and reveled in meeting fans amid her seemingly never-ending legal wrangle. The event was held at Maxwell Social House in New York City on June 11 for the debut of two new vodka iced teas Meyer Lemonade and Passion Fruit. 'We spent so much time on every single flavor, genuinely,' Lively said during her speech at the event, adding that 'they really are from recipes in my home, something that we make over and over again.' She added that it is 'really fun to celebrate with you guys' and 'we're so proud to be here,' People reported. Earlier this week, Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Baldoni's $400 million lawsuit against Blake. The judge told Baldoni and his team at Wayfarer Studios that they can amend two claims by June 23. Those claims are related to breach of implied contract and tortious interference with contract. Meanwhile, Blake and her legal team are over the moon and consider it a significant legal victory. 'As we have said from day one, this '$400 million' lawsuit was a sham, and the Court saw right through it.' Baldoni is reportedly dejected by the outcome, according to his attorney Bryan Freedman. TMZ reported that Baldoni thought the decision was 'not fair,' calling him 'a person who wants to be vindicated.' 'He's waiting for his day in court, where he can speak out to tell the truth.' The trial is set for March 2026. 'We spent so much time on every single flavor, genuinely,' Lively said during her speech at the event, adding that 'they really are from recipes in my home, something that we make over and over again.' See here June 9, 2025 Freedman went on to say 'We got started because Blake Lively filed a CRD complaint and then walked over and filed a lawsuit,' he said. That lawsuit, 'accused some very good people of a smear campaign and accused a terrific young man of sexual harassment - both of the which were completely untrue.' 'And that's where the case got started' and 'where the case stands today.' 'What we wanted our win is to show there was no smear campaign, and there's no sexual harassment,' Freedman explained. 'And she hasn't proved a thing - as a matter of fact, it's just the opposite.' He continued: 'Look at the facts, look at what's been shown, look at the receipts, look at the video.' Freedman told the outlet that proving the claims Lively made to be false has always been the chief focus for Baldoni's team, 'in addition to getting damages.' He said he was hoping Lively didn't 'drop her lawsuit ... because she's on a false victory tour, and she's afraid of the truth. Blake looked lovely at the event in a mid-thigh length skirt and jacket in a blue, purple, yellow and green. She wore the skirt suit over a white camisole and slipped her feet into blue peep-toed heels. The mom of four wore her long blonde hair in a saucy ponytail. Blake and her husband Ryan Reynolds, 48, are parents to daughters James, 10, Inez, eight and Betty, five, as well as son Olin, two.
BBC News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Legal win for son tricked into moving to Africa by parents
A teenager who was tricked into going to boarding school in Africa has won a significant legal victory against his own 14-year-old boy, who cannot be identified, was taken from London to Ghana in March 2024 after being told a relative was ill. In fact, his parents wanted to get him out of London as they feared he was being drawn into criminal and homesick in Ghana, the boy found lawyers and brought a case against his parents to the High Court in London, which ruled against him in February. On Thursday, he won his appeal, so the case will be reheard. The most senior judge in the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, said there had been confusion in the previous decision."We have become more and more concerned as to the exercise the judge undertook," he added."For those reasons - we are agreed remittal should be allowed."He urged the family to find a solution through constructive dialogue. At the hearing, the boy's barrister, Deirdre Fottrell KC, said he is "desperate" to return to the UK."He is culturally displaced and alienated," she said."He considers himself abandoned by his family. He feels he is a British boy, a London boy."The boy remains in Ghana and has been attending a day school there. His solicitor, James Netto, described the appeal ruling as a "hugely significant" decision that would "resonate across international family law." He said: "We are very pleased indeed that the Court of Appeal has allowed our client's appeal, and has recognised the critical importance of listening to and assessing the voices of young people at the heart of legal proceedings that profoundly affect their lives."The parents' barrister, Rebecca Foulkes, said that staying in Ghana was the "least harmful" option for the boy."The parents found themselves in a wholly invidious decision when they made the decision they made," she said. "Ghana provided a safe haven, separate from those who exposed him to risk."The least harmful option is for him to remain in Ghana."The case centres on the question of parental responsibility, and whether the parents acted unlawfully by sending their son to boarding school without his boy previously told the court that he felt like he was "living in hell". He said he was "mocked" at the school in Ghana and "could also barely understand what was going on".During the previous judgement, High Court judge Mr Justice Hayden said the parents' wish for their son to move to Ghana was "driven by their deep, obvious and unconditional love".He found that the boy, who had lived in the UK since birth, was at risk of suffering greater harm by returning to said that the boy's parents believe "and in my judgement with reason" that their son has "at very least peripheral involvement with gang culture and has exhibited an unhealthy interest in knives".Sir Andrew said the case will now be reheard by a different judge, with the next hearing planned to take place in the next few weeks.A full decision will be given in writing at a later date.
