Latest news with #landmarkcase
The National
28-07-2025
- Business
- The National
UAE resident files for Dh1 billion divorce settlement in Abu Dhabi
A woman has filed for a landmark divorce settlement of Dh1 billion at Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court. The motion was filed by a 39-year-old from the Caribbean, who was married for 20 years before she and her husband began divorce proceedings in April, citing irreconcilable differences. 'I have a deep and unwavering belief in the UAE's judicial system,' said AM, the woman who filed the claim and has five children. 'We've lived in the UAE for almost 18 years and built our empire here. My children were born and raised in this country – it's our home, and I have so much respect for it and for the process currently under way in court.' The Dh1 billion claim does not include child support, which is being addressed separately. Earlier this year, an American woman in the UAE was awarded more than Dh100 million ($27.2 million) in a divorce settlement by Abu Dhabi's Civil Family Court. The payout is believed to currently be the largest to an expatriate woman in a no-fault divorce case by the court, which was established in December 2021. Byron James, partner at Expatriate Law, who is AM's lawyer, said the significance of the case is not in the potential payout, but what it represents. 'Abu Dhabi is emerging as not just as an alternative, but as a preferred destination for resolving high-value international divorces,' said Mr James. 'The UAE's family court system is now being seen as efficient, sophisticated, technology focused but deeply human, all qualities that are becoming increasingly important to clients at the very top end of the global spectrum.' The court was opened to hear all cases under a non-Sharia process, including Muslims who are not UAE citizens, to bring the capital into line with international legal practices. As a result of a decision made last year, non-Emirati lawyers are allowed to represent clients in Abu Dhabi's civil court. Previously, only Emirati lawyers could operate in the country's courtrooms. Since its inception, the court has processed more than 43,000 civil marriage applications – including over 10,000 in the first half of 2025 alone. Nearly 20 per cent of applicants are tourists, reflecting Abu Dhabi's increasing profile as a centre for legal marriage and family law services. Youssef Saeed Al Abri, undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, said the case reflects growing global trust in the UAE's civil justice framework. 'This unprecedented claim is a clear testament to the global confidence in Abu Dhabi's civil justice system. The Civil Family Court has redefined how family disputes are resolved in the region – through fairness, speed, modern court procedures and full accessibility for expats of all nationalities and religions.'
Irish Times
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Indigenous leaders in ‘deepest pain imaginable' as Australian court dismisses climate case
Two Torres Strait community leaders say they are shocked and devastated after the federal court dismissed a landmark case that argued the Australian government breached its duty of care to protect the Torres Strait Islands from climate change . The lead plaintiffs, Uncle Pabai Pabai and Uncle Paul Kabai from the islands of Boigu and Saibai, sought orders requiring the government to take steps to prevent climate harm to their communities, including by cutting greenhouse gas emissions at the pace climate scientists say is necessary. In delivering the decision, Justice Michael Wigney noted: 'There could be little if any doubt that the Torres Strait Islands and their inhabitants face a bleak future if urgent action is not taken.' In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, Uncle Paul said: 'I thought that the decision would be in our favour, and I'm in shock. This pain isn't just for me, it's for all people Indigenous and non-Indigenous who have been affected by climate change. What do any of us say to our families now?' READ MORE He added later: 'Mr [Anthony] Albanese [Australia's prime minister] and his expensive government lawyers will stand up and walk away ... They go home and sleep soundly in their expensive beds. We go back to our islands and the deepest pain imaginable.' The class action, filed in 2021, argued the government had a legal duty of care towards Torres Strait Islander peoples and that it had breached this duty by failing to prevent or deal with damage in the Torres Strait linked to global heating. Wigney's summary said the applicants' case had failed 'not so much because there was no merit in their factual allegations' but because the common law of negligence 'was not a suitable legal vehicle'. He said the reality was that current law 'provides no real or effective legal avenue through which individuals and communities like those in the Torres Strait Islands' can claim damages or other relief for harm they suffer as a result of government policies related to climate change. Wigney said that would remain the case unless the law changed. 'Until then, the only real avenue available ... involves public advocacy and protest and, ultimately, recourse via the ballot box,' he said. 'My heart is broken for my family and my community,' Uncle Pabai said after the judgment. 'I'll keep fighting and will sit down with my lawyers and look at how we can appeal.' Brett Spiegel, principal lawyer at Phi Finney McDonald, the firm representing Uncle Pabai, Uncle Paul and their communities, said the legal team 'will review the judgment ... and consider all options for appeal'. Hearings in the case were held in 2023 in Melbourne and on Country in the Torres Strait to allow the court to tour the islands and view the impacts of climate change. On Saibai Island, homes were already being inundated by king tides, the cemetery had been affected by erosion and sea walls had been built. The legal challenge is supported by the Urgenda Foundation and Grata Fund, a public interest organisation that helps individuals access the courts. It was modelled on the Urgenda climate case against the Dutch government – the first case in the world in which citizens established their government had a legal duty to prevent dangerous climate change. [ Sally Hayden: Climate change is human made, but not all humans have played same role in it Opens in new window ] In the judgment summary, released on Tuesday, Wigney said 'the applicants succeeded in establishing many of the factual allegations that underpinned their primary case'. In particular, the court found that when the federal government set climate targets in 2015, 2020 and 2021 – when a coalition was in power – it 'failed to engage with or give any real or genuine consideration to what the best available science indicated was required' for Australia to play its part to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement. The court found 'when the Commonwealth, under a new government, reset Australia's emissions reduction target in 2022, it did have some regard to the best available science'. Wigney found that the Torres Strait Islands 'have been, and continue to be, ravaged by climate change and its impacts'. He agreed the evidence indicated this damage had become more frequent in recent times, 'including the flooding and inundation of townships, extreme sea level and weather events, severe erosion, the salination of wetlands and previously arable land, the degradation of fragile ecosystems, including the bleaching of coral reefs, and the loss of sea life'. Despite this, Wigney found the applicants had not succeeded in making their primary case related to negligence. He found the government did not owe Torres Strait Islanders a duty of care because, in respect to the law of negligence, courts had established that matters involving 'high or core government policy' were to be decided through political processes. Isabelle Reinecke, the founder and executive director of Grata Fund, said 'the court was not yet ready to take the step we all need it to and hold the Australian government accountable for it's role in creating the climate crisis'. But she said it had made strong findings that the 'Australian government knows that Torres Strait communities are being ravaged by climate change'. In a joint statement, the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, and the minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, said: 'Unlike the former Liberal government, we understand that the Torres Strait Islands are vulnerable to climate change, and many are already feeling the impacts.' Bowen and McCarthy said the government 'remains committed to both acting to continue to cut emissions, and adapting to climate impacts we cannot avoid'. 'We are finalising Australia's first national climate risk assessment and national adaptation plan to help all communities understand climate risk and build a more resilient country for all Australians,' they said. - Guardian
SBS Australia
15-07-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
No duty of care: Torres Strait Islander Uncles lose their climate case against the Australian Government
Pabai Pabai and Paul Kabai have lost their landmark court action against the Commonwealth, with Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney ruling that the Australian Government was not negligent by failing to take strong action on climate change. There were high hopes, but today brought a bitter blow for the Torres Strait Islander plaintiffs at the centre of a groundbreaking climate case. "My heart is broken for my family and my community," Uncle Pabai Pabai, from Boigu, said. "Love has driven us on this journey for the last five years, love for our families and communities. "That love will keep driving us. " Uncle Paul Kabai, Saibai Traditional Owner, said he was in shock because he had expected the decision to be in the Islanders' favour. "This pain isn't just for me, it's for all people, Indigenous and non-Indigenous who have been affected by climate change," he said. "What do any of us say to our families now?" In a much-anticipated decision handed down in Cairns, the Federal Court ruled against the Uncles' claim – that the Australian Government had been negligent by failing to take stronger action on climate change. While accepting many of the key facts that the Uncles had presented to the court regarding the devastating effects human-induced climate change has had on the Torres Strait Islands, Judge Michael Wigney ruled that it was not enough to prove their case of negligence against the Australian Government. It's a devastating outcome for the claimants and for communities across the Torres Strait who are already living with the daily impacts of climate change. Saibai Elder Aunty McRose Elu, who gave evidence during the case, said she was feeling deep grief. "It is a moral loss for the government, not for us - we are the winners," she said. "Where is the duty of care from the government? "We will be the first climate refugees in Australia – I am burdened with that heaviness. "What will I say to my grandchildren about this decision? It's their future not mine. "We will keep on fighting." From homes threatened by rising tides, to the erosion of sacred sites and cultural heritage, Traditional Owners have long argued that their future is at risk. But today, the court ruled the Government has no legal obligation to act. In making his decision Justice Wigney said there was no doubt that the inhabitants of the Torres Strait Islands are far more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change than other communities in Australia. "They understandably feel powerless when it comes to protecting themselves against climate change and its impact on their islands and traditional way of life," he said. "There could be little, if any, doubt that the Torres Strait Islands and their traditional inhabitants face a bleak future if urgent action is not taken to address climate change and its impacts." Nonetheless the judge ruled that the Uncles had not proved their case to satisfy the common law of negligence. "The reality is that the law in Australia as it currently stands provides no real or effective legal avenue through which individuals and communities like those in the Torres Strait Islands can claim damages or other relief in respect of harm that they claim to have suffered as a result of governmental decisions ... including in respect of the responses to climate change," he said. "... That will remain the case unless the law in Australia changes ... "Until then, the only real avenue available to those in the position of the applicants and other Torres Strait Islanders involves public advocacy and protest and, ultimately, recourse via the ballot box." Justice Wigney found that when the former Coalition Government set Australia's greenhouse gas emissions targets in 2015, 2020, and 2021, it failed to give any genuine consideration to what the best available science indicated was required for Australia to play its part in the important global objective enshrined in the Paris Agreement of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In a joint statement Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said they understood the Torres Strait Islands are vulnerable to climate change and that the Commonwealth was considering the judgment. "We're continuing to turn around a decade of denial and delay on climate, embedding serious climate targets in law and making the changes necessary to achieve them," their statement said.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Indigenous Australians lose landmark climate court case against government
Indigenous Australians living on a string of climate-threatened islands on Tuesday lost a landmark court bid to hold the government responsible for lacklustre emissions targets. Scattered through the warm waters off Australia's northernmost tip, the sparsely populated Torres Strait Islands are threatened by seas rising much faster than the global average. Torres Strait elders have spent the past four years fighting through the courts to prove the government failed to protect them through meaningful climate action. Australia's Federal Court found the government was not obliged to shield the Torres Strait Islands from climate change. "I thought that the decision would be in our favour, and I'm in shock," said Torres Strait Islander Paul Kabai, who helped to bring the case. "What do any of us say to our families now?" Fellow plaintiff Pabai Pabai said: "My heart is broken for my family and my community." Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney criticised the government for setting emissions targets between 2015 and 2021 that failed to consider the "best available science". But these targets would have had little impact on global temperature rise, he found. "Any additional greenhouse gases that might have been released by Australia as a result of low emissions targets would have caused no more than an almost immeasurable increase in global average temperatures," Wigney said. Australia's previous conservative government sought to cut emissions by around 26 percent before 2030. The incumbent left-leaning government in 2022 adopted new plans to slash emissions by 40 percent before the end of the decade, and reach net zero by 2050. - 'Climate refugees' - Fewer than 5,000 people live in the Torres Strait, a collection of about 274 mud islands and coral cays wedged between Australia's mainland and Papua New Guinea. Lawyers for traditional land owners from Boigu and Saibai -- among the worst-impacted islands -- asked the court to order the government "to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level that will prevent Torres Strait Islanders from becoming climate refugees". Sea levels in some parts of the archipelago are rising almost three times faster than the global average, according to official figures. Rising tides have washed away graves, eaten through huge chunks of exposed coastline, and poisoned once-fertile soils with salt. The lawsuit argued some islands would soon become uninhabitable if global temperatures rose more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The World Meteorological Organization has warned this threshold could be breached before the end of the decade. While Australia's emissions pale in comparison to the likes of China and the United States, the fossil fuel powerhouse is one of the largest coal exporters in the world. sft/djw/mtp
