Business Law Library & Tracker
Selected Business Law Cases
Short explainers for court decisions that change how Australian businesses handle contracts, staff, customers, IP and company duties.
Sources last reviewed 8 June 2026
Main law guides
297
Acts, regulations and codes worth reading first
Topics
22
Plain-English clusters
Published case explainers
496
Selected cases with a business lesson
Tracked updates
110
New, amended & reviewed
Plain-English explainers, not legal advice. Use the linked official source for section-level detail, and get advice for your situation.
Get legal helpSinghal v Finsure Finance & Insurance Pty Ltd
The main takeaway is procedural. This judgment does not establish that Finsure or BOQ were substantively correct about the suspension, termination, withheld...
Southern Cross Industrial Group Pty Ltd v Mickala Mining Maintenance Pty Ltd (Costs)
If your business is in a patent dispute, do not treat settlement offers as a one-off event. Reassess them as the case develops, especially after pleadings change or...
Sozou (liquidator) v Touchline Pty Ltd, in the matter of Touchline Pty Ltd
Read this case as a records and exposure case, not as a final ruling on liability. The court was only deciding whether the liquidators should have more time to...
Spyrou v Thorn, in the matter of IAZ Logistics Pty Ltd
The application succeeded, but the judge made it clear that the plaintiff came very close to failing because of the way the case was prepared and presented. The...
Stanford v Depuy International Pty Ltd (No 9)
If your business ever settles a large multi-party dispute, runs a compensation program, or manages a structured refund or remediation process, the administration...
Sunflower Care Services Pty Ltd v Commissioner of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (No 2)
Business owners should read this case as a warning about governance discipline, not as a sign that banning orders are easy to overturn. The Court’s orders show that...
Tasmanian Salmonid Growers Association Limited v Director of Biosecurity
Read this case as a process case, not a final ruling on whether the underlying biosecurity settings were right or wrong. The Tasmanian salmon industry participants...
The Game Meats Company of Australia Pty Ltd v Farm Transparency International Limited (Costs)
Business owners should read this case as a reminder that litigation strategy and settlement discipline matter just as much as the underlying legal claim. If your...
The Game Meats Company of Australia Pty Ltd v Farm Transparency International Ltd
If someone enters your premises without permission and records video, the legal response may include much more than suing for trespass. This case indicates that a...
The Pops Group Pty Ltd as trustee for The Pool Shops Trust v Pro Pool Services Pty Ltd
A registered trade mark is valuable, but it does not guarantee that a court will stop another trader immediately. If the other business is using a different sign...
Thomas v Monsoon Group Pty Ltd
If your trade mark is not yet actively trading in Australia, do not assume the registration is safe and do not assume this case gives you a simple defence. The...
Torc Solutions Pty Ltd v Unex Corporation doing business as Hytorc
The practical message is not that phone calls and commercial discussions never matter. It is that they may not be enough if the parties are still saying they will...
Twinza Oil Limited (Receivers and Managers Appointed), in the matter of Twinza Oil Limited (Receivers and Managers Appointed) (No 2)
If your company is planning a court-approved restructure, do not treat the approval hearing as a formality. Where the proposal affects existing equity but only...
Tzaros v ServiceNow Australia Pty Ltd
Read this decision as a process case with a strong operational message. If your business is recruiting, be careful about what recruiters, managers and interviewers...
Universal City Studios LLC v Telstra Limited (No 2)
If your business depends on the value of digital content, this case is a reminder to think beyond the first infringing domain or URL. In practice, infringing...
VGW Holdings Limited, in the matter of VGW Holdings Limited (No 2)
Read this case as a process case as much as an approval case. If your business is proposing a scheme, keep the record clean: dispatch materials on time, keep...
Vouris, in the matter of Rapid Response Revival Research Limited (Administrators Appointed) (No 2)
Read this case as a lesson in structure, control and sale readiness, not as a patent law ruling. The Court accepted that appointing the administrators as receivers...
Watson Webb Pty Ltd v Comino
If your business receives drawings, marked-up designs, CAD files or prototype specifications from a supplier or collaborator, do not assume you can reuse them for...
Watson Webb Pty Ltd v Comino (No 2)
If your business is the real commercial driver of a dispute, but another entity ends up named as the applicant or appellant, do not assume the Court will sort it...
Wealth Trail Pty Ltd (in liq) v Del Vecchio
If your business may face customer or investor claims because someone inside the business allegedly acted without authority, your loss may emerge in stages rather...
Weber v Thomas Foods International (Stawell) Pty Ltd (Strike Out Application)
Business owners should read this as a case about pleading discipline, standing and forum choice in employment litigation. It does not mean the employer was cleared...
Weekes v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
If your business is the subject of an ACCC complaint, this decision suggests the complainant cannot simply assume the ACCC must investigate, answer every letter, or...
Weston (Trustee) v Sanna (No 7)
Read this case as a sale-proceeds and secured-creditor dispute, not just a property fight. The court was prepared to approve a negotiated split of the remaining...
Westpac Banking Corporation v Forum Finance Pty Limited (in liq) (Reinstatement)
Treat ASIC deregistration as an administrative event, not a liability shield. In this case, the company had been deregistered for unpaid fees, but the Court...
Wight (liquidator), in the matter of Responsible Entity Services Limited (in liquidation)
If your business is negotiating with a secured creditor in liquidation, get clear early on four things. First, is the creditor actually bound by the restructuring...
Xie v Moshav Financial Wholesale Pty Ltd
Business owners should read this case as a supervision and sales-controls case, not just an investor dispute. The pleaded representations included specific claims...
Yeo (liquidator), in the matter of Tuftex Carpets Pty Ltd (in liquidation)
Read this case as a process and risk-management decision. It does not tell you that the former director or holding company would have lost at trial. It tells you...
ZACD Group Limited v Bao (Costs)
Business owners should read this case as a warning about settlement strategy and litigation arithmetic. The underlying misleading conduct findings sit in the...
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Ultra Tune Australia Pty Ltd (No 3)
If your business is under court orders, treat every compliance deadline as a board-level issue. In this case, the Court dealt with repeated failures to update a...
Australian Securities and Investments Commission v BSF Solutions Pty Ltd (Liability)
If your business touches consumer lending, do not assume that a separate service agreement, a different operating entity or a "no fee" label will keep you outside...
Broadband Solutions Pty Ltd v Ramirez
Business owners should read this as an evidence case, not a blanket endorsement of all restraint clauses. The court was not finally deciding that every alleged...
Ceni Enterprises Pty Ltd (in liq) v Sykes, in the matter of Ceni Enterprises Pty Ltd (in liq)
If your business is involved in a franchise, distribution or branded product arrangement, this case shows the importance of both transaction discipline and...
CW Group Holdings Limited, in the matter of CW Group Holdings Limited
If your business is pursuing a merger, sale or restructure through a scheme of arrangement, this case shows that the early court stage is largely about whether...
Directed Electronics OE Pty Ltd v Isuzu Australia Limited (No 2)
If your business is considering separate proceedings arising from the same commercial events, plan the sequence carefully and document the reason for it. A later...
Directed Electronics OE Pty Ltd v Isuzu Australia Limited (No 3)
If your business is thinking about a procedural application to shut down, pause or narrow a claim, treat it as a commercial decision, not just a legal tactic. Ask...
Fair Work Ombudsman v 85 Degrees Coffee Australia Pty Ltd
Franchisors cannot treat franchisee payroll compliance as someone else's problem where they have enough control and warning signs. If a brand knows similar...