Companies

The High Court has rejected Volkswagen's special leave application to challenge a record $125 million penalty for selling cars with a defeat device that allowed them to cheat on emissions tests.

Accounting firms Pitcher Partners and Ernst & Young have blamed the lawyers who advised on Slater & Gordon’s disastrous $1.2 Quindell acquisition for the its massive losses in 2016, saying they failed to point out the “commercial misjudgment” of agreeing to the deal.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia will have to hand over a preliminary tranche of documents relating to seven large-scale oil and gas projects it is financing in a lawsuit that will test whether the bank has complied with its stated commitments on climate change.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has scored a victory in its long-running case against GetSwift, with the Federal Court finding the company and its directors breached the Corporations Act and ASIC Act through their "public relations-driven approach" to announcements on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Accounting firms EY and Pitcher Partners ignored “front page news” that Slater & Gordon’s acquired business Quindell was scrutinised by a UK regulator after reporting a $250 million (£137 million) loss, a court heard on the second day of trial in a class action by the law firm’s shareholders.

A judge said he “gagged” at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s proposed $5 million pecuniary penalty in its case against specialist workplace relations company Employsure over six misleading Google ads.

JPMorgan bigwigs who are key witnesses for the prosecution in its cartel case over ANZ’s botched share placement in 2015 will be questioned by Citibank and Deutsche ahead of trial.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has failed in its bid to dismiss a case brought by customers who claim they were the victims of "cuckoo-smurfing" and had funds seized as proceeds of crime because the bank breached its anti-money laundering obligations.

Accounting firm Pitcher Partners gave faulty advice ahead of Slater & Gordon's disastrous $1.2 billion Quindell acquisition that was responsible for $800 million in the business’ value “disappearing” within six months, a court heard on the first day of trial in a long-running class action by the law firm's shareholders.

In rejecting a bid by The Star Entertainment Group to recoup losses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Court's Chief Justice did "real and unexplained violence" to the construction of a business interruption policy the casino giant had taken out with Chubb, the Full Court has heard.