A top-tier Australian law firm has been ordered to pay more than half a million dollars in damages for professional negligence, after its billionaire client alleged losses of almost $US37 million following a “critical omission” in legal advice.
One month after Japanese shipping company K-Line was hit with a $34.5 million fine for cartel conduct, Norwegian shipping firm Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean AS has said it will plead guilty to one charge of criminal cartel conduct for its role in the same scheme.
Norway-based shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean AS has become the third international shipper to be charged with price fixing in Australia, just three weeks after Japan’s K-Line was hit with a record $34.5 million fine over the same alleged cartel.
The NSW Supreme Court has ordered the lead plaintiff in a class action over the Sydney light rail construction project to pay $1.25 million in security for costs to Transport for NSW ahead of discovery, which is expected to cost $2.26 million.
The ACCC has reversed course, naming the state of New South Wales in its lawsuit over an allegedly anti-competitive agreement for the privatisation of Port Botany and Port Kembla after previously saying the law did not apply to the state.
A competition lawsuit brought against NSW Ports has been stayed while a similar case brought by the competition regulator over an allegedly anti-competitive agreement to privatise Port Botany and Port Kembla moves forward.
National car repair franchise Ultra Tune has argued in a Full Federal Court appeal that a $1.07 million penalty in an ACCC case was “manifestly excessive” because it was based on unintentional breaches of the Franchising Code of Conduct that were caused by tardy accountants and auditors.
Indonesian airline Garuda has failed in its bid to stay a $19 million penalty for its role in a fuel surcharge cartel after telling the Federal Court it has debts of $480 million, with a judge saying he would be allowing the company to trade while insolvent if he granted the stay.
Australian logistics company Linfox has taken its $45 million fuel tax credit challenge to the Full Federal Court, arguing its trucks are being over-taxed on major toll roads across the country.
Australian stevedoring company DP World has won an interim bid to stop a “go slow” at its container terminal in the Port of Melbourne, after a judge found a “seriously arguable” case that the CFMEU was behind the unprotected industrial action.