Two law firms are seeking court approval to drop class actions brought on behalf of allegedly misclassified casual coal miners, in light of a High Court decision that “radically” decreased their chances of success.
A senior ACCC officer was probed Tuesday on whether the competition regulator updated its guidelines for taking witness statements in July in response to criticism of investigators’ methods in the cartel probe over ANZ’s $2.5 billion share placement.
A judge has granted a 21-day stay of a lawsuit brought by Acciona, a Spanish infrastructure company seeking to use COVID-19 as a reason to back out of its construction contract for the $696 million Kwinana waste-to-energy plant, and has warned the company it faces a difficult task to persuade the court of its case.
La Trobe Financial Asset Management will pay just $750,000 for misleading investors in its 48 hour and 90 day notice accounts over a period of more than three years, with a judge saying the company would have faced a penalty “well in excess” of this amount if not for reassuring correspondence from ASIC during its investigation.
Law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has won its appeal of a $160,000 judgment in favour of former partner Thomas Martin, with the Full Federal Court finding Martin’s allegations of deceit arose from “an excess of suspicion” and “causal connections of the most tenuous kind”.
Financial services company AMP has lost its bid to de-class representative proceedings brought on behalf of 1.5 million insurance customers.
Melbourne-based joint venture Shepparton Partners Collective has lost its appeal of a $1.2 million judgment that found it infringed software developer QAD’s copyright by failing to pay a transfer fee to retain the licence after it acquired the iconic SPC Ardmona cannery in Victoria from Coca-Cola Amatil for $40 million.
A judge has given the green light to expanded misconduct allegations in a shareholder class action against IOOF, including claims of insider trading and front-running.
A former JPMorgan managing director has said the three investment banks at the centre of an alleged cartel made individual decisions to trade “gently” in ANZ shares but were conscious of their fellow underwriters’ risks following a botched share placement in 2015.
A judge has expressed hesitation about a $750,000 penalty proposed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in its misleading advertisement case against $5.15 billion credit fund La Trobe Financial Asset Management, calling the amount “very, very modest”.