A judge has sided with Worley in a ruling tossing a class action after a trial alleged the engineering company misled shareholders and breached disclosure rules by issuing an overly positive earnings guidance of $322 million for the 2014 financial year.
A judge’s decision to throw out a shareholder class action against engineering company Worley is a loss for plaintiffs lawyers and could result in fewer listed companies willing to settle cases alleging they breached their disclosure obligations, but the ruling is not likely to have a significant chilling effect on securities litigation.
A judge has given the greenlight to AUSTRAC’s $1.3 billion penalty against Westpac over the bank’s 23 million breaches of money laundering and counter-terrorism laws, the biggest regulatory fine ever paid by an Australian company.
Over-the-counter derivative issuers AGM Markets, OT Markets and Oxifin Tech have been ordered to pay a total of $75 million in penalties after a ruling that they engaged in unconscionable conduct causing losses of over $30 million to unsophisticated investors seeking what a judge called “financial heroin hits”.
Australia’s leading livestock group cannot block US company Branhaven from amending its application for a bovine genome patent, which the group has worried could harm the Australian cattle industry’s ability to use genetic tests.
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.
McMillan Shakespeare has settled a class action alleging one of its units engaged in unfair tactics and unconscionable conduct in the sale of car warranties that offered “no benefit or value” to consumers.
Isuzu plans to lodge cross-claims against electronics company Directed Electronics and various third parties in an $18 million lawsuit accusing the commercial vehicle manufacturer of contract and copyright breaches and aiding a former employee’s alleged theft of company information.
Mining giant Glencore has won its appeal over access charges to Port of Newcastle shipping channels used to export coal from the Hunter Valley.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has been hit with another class action for allegedly pushing insurance policies with excessive premiums onto customers.