A judge is considering whether he can increase a record $75 million civil penalty settlement reached by Volkswagen and the ACCC over the dieselgate scandal, after saying the people of Australia would be “upset” if they knew about some of the “outrageous” terms to which the consumer watchdog had agreed.
Health insurer Medibank has admitted to engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct when it falsely told consumers they were not eligible for certain coverage under their insurance policies in what it called an “internal process failure”, but denies the ACCC’s claim that consumers were denied the benefits they paid for.
Retailers Target and Big W have admitted they breached the consumer laws and potentially misled customers complaining about faulty Sony PlayStations and Dyson appliances, the ACCC said Tuesday.
The consumer watchdog has launched an inquiry into wholesale NBN charges paid by retailers, focusing on whether pricing for basic broadband products was fair and affordable.
The ACCC will immediately commence a wide-ranging homes loans inquiry at the direction of the Federal Government, including an investigation into the banking sector’s refusal to pass on interest rate cuts to consumers in full.
Counsel for a class action against Arnold Bloch Leibler alleging negligence over advice to Slater & Gordon has criticised the law firm’s barrister for seeking more time to file a possible dismissal application because he was “only briefed yesterday”, saying the excuse had become an all too frequent one.
Internet provider TPG says it has been “vindicated” by a judge’s decision to throw out the consumer watchdog’s case over allegedly unfair contract terms that allowed the telco to keep millions of dollars of customer’s unused prepaid funds.
The plaintiffs in a farming class action brought against Advanta Seeds over allegedly contaminated sorghum have been denied access to the defendant’s insurance policy documents, after a judge found “significant differences” with a recently successful application in a class action against Radio Rentals.
The competition regulator has signed off on Viva Energy’s proposed acquisition of the remaining 50 per cent of Liberty Oil’s wholesale business, saying the deal was not likely to substantially likely to lessen competition in the wholesale fuel market.
The judge overseeing the long-running class action over allegedly faulty Ford PowerShift transmissions has told the applicants they might need to put up considerable cash security to cover the “war and peace of discovery” disputes, after Ford slammed the delayed request for documents as “complete and utter nonsense”.