The ACCC has won a record $26.5 million penalty against defunct vocational trainer Empower Institute for “duping” disadvantaged customers into enrolling in courses they couldn’t afford with the promise of free laptops and cash.
National car repair franchise Ultra Tune is preparing negligence suits against its former lawyers and auditors, after the company on Friday won a $590,000 reduction in a $2.6 million penalty for breaches of the Franchising Code of Conduct.
James Cook University has followed through on its promise to appeal a $1.2 million judgment awarded against it for the unfair dismissal of physics professor and climate skeptic Peter Ridd.
APRA’s purely documentary case against troubled fund manager IOOF has been dismissed by the Federal Court as “unpersuasive”, “fundamentally inadequate” and “tenuous in the extreme”, in another major blow to financial services regulators pursuing action in the wake of the banking royal commission.
A judge has permanently banned the director of financial services firm Gallop International from the industry and proposed a record $3 million fine after the corporate watchdog brought enforcement action alleging $40 million of investors’ money disappeared from Gallop’s bank account.
The liquidator appointed to investigate a class action over Walton Construction’s collapse is now looking to file his own case against National Australia Bank, the company’s former director, and the restructuring firm hired before the construction company’s demise.
The CFMEU has successfully challenged an interim Fair Work Commission order barring workers at stevedoring firm DP World from ‘go slow’ industrial action after an appeals panel found a commissioner had no power to make the original order because she miscalculated, by 7.5 hours, when she could make it.
ACCC Chair Rod Sims reiterated concerns about the lack of competition in the retail banking sector on Wednesday, but shut down media reports that the competition regulator is pushing for a royal commission-scale inquiry into the big four banks.
A class action alleging travel agency Scenic Tours owes damages to European cruise passengers forced to take buses when heavy rain flooded waterways is still proceeding despite an impending High Court appeal, with the tour company now seeking to argue in an amended defence that class members could not reasonably rely on it to control water levels.
Australian rail freight operator Aurizon has launched a lawsuit against US-based shortline railroad firm Genesee & Wyoming seeking damages over the impending sale of its Australian assets.