A class action launched over the Scotsburn bushfire that burnt down 12 homes and ravaged over 4,000 hectares in Victoria in December 2015 has reached a $10.5 million settlement with agricultural machinery company Agrison and insurer Auto & General Insurance Company.
National car repair franchise Ultra Tune has been ordered to pay a $2.6 million penalty, with a judge finding the firm had not only breached the Franchising Code and the Australian Consumer Law by misleading a prospective franchisee but also misled the court in its defence of the case brought by the consumer watchdog.
Two ‘sham letters’ produced by a senior manager of national car repair franchise Ultra Tune led both the ACCC and the court ‘down the garden path,’ a Federal Court judge heard Thursday.
Ultra Tune was “cavalier and careless” in its attitude towards its franchisees, the ACCC told the Federal Court Tuesday at the start of a four-day hearing in a case alleging the national car repair business failed to comply with the Franchising Code and breached the Australian Consumer Law.