The ACCC has reached the end of the line in its challenge to Pacific National’s $205 million acquisition of Aurizon’s Acacia Ridge Terminal in Queensland, with the High Court dismissing the competition regulator’s application to take up the appeal.
Treasury Wine Estates has accused plaintiffs law firm Maurice Blackburn and barrister Guy Donnellan of “taking advantage” of their privileged position by using evidence discovered in a settled class action to file a second case against the wine maker.
That a first filed case should be the presumptive winner in a competition between class actions seemed a losing argument before the High Court on Tuesday as the justices weighed a challenge to a ruling picking one among a group of class actions against AMP, but the court also appeared skeptical of the power to hold wide ranging inquiries into the merits of competing cases.
The eyes of class action lawyers will be on the High Court Tuesday as it hears arguments over a judge’s power to choose a single class action among competing proceedings and what, if anything, should be made of a case’s funding structure and likely returns to group members when picking a winner.
Five investment banks facing a class action for their alleged rigging of foreign exchange rates have slammed the “unclear” and “incredibly vague” case, saying it contains “literally trillions” of possible variations of the cartel agreement allegedly entered into.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has lost its appeal of a ruling that found Woolworths’ environmental claims for its ‘Select Eco’ line of compostable plates, bowls and cutlery were accurate, not false and misleading.
Maurice Blackburn is pushing back against an appeal by Treasury Wine Estates, which accuses the law firm and a barrister of breaching their obligations by using evidence discovered in a settled class action to launch a second case against the wine maker.
A former executive of BlueScope Steel has pleaded guilty to obstructing an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission price fixing investigation, in the first criminal charges ever brought against an individual in relation to an ACCC probe.
Mining giant Glencore has won its appeal over access charges to Port of Newcastle shipping channels used to export coal from the Hunter Valley.
Construction giant Boral must now contend with three class actions by shareholders alleging it failed to disclose financial problems with its US windows business, but the cases will stay on ice pending a High Court challenge.