The Big Four banks were trying to shore up their profits when they refused to pass on home loan interest rate cuts to consumers in full last year, an interim report of an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry has found.
Communications giant Optus has become the first telco to be hit with a class action for breach of privacy, with 50,000 customers seeking compensation for disclosure of their personal details.
A judge has vacated the next stage of an intellectual property fight between Motorola and Hytera Communications because of laws prohibiting witnesses located in China from giving unauthorised evidence via videolink, rejecting a “highly experimental procedural remedy” proposed by Motorola.
The funder behind the Banksia Securities class action has failed in a bid to have an outstanding case over legal fees and its commission sent to mediation, with a judge saying the issues for trial involve allegations against lawyers of serious misconduct not appropriate for closed-door negotiations.
The liquidators of defunct stockbroker Halifax are justified in their decision to refrain from realising existing investments over the protests of some investors, until substantive issues in the liquidation are resolved, a court has directed.
A judge has found that an Oregon electronic music duo “flagrantly” copied the 1977 disco hit ‘Love is in the Air’ but has rejected most claims for damages because the copyright holder of the song sued for each streaming and download of the song, rather than for the creation of the infringing work.
The judge presiding over the settlement approval hearing in a shareholder class action against telecommunications company Vocus Group has questioned whether the High Court’s recent ruling striking down common fund orders at the outset of class actions would allow him to make such an order at settlement.
Passengers on a European river cruise operated by Scenic Tours can claim damages for disappointment after they were forced to take buses for most of their luxury tour, the High Court has ruled.
The administrators of Virgin Australia will not have to pay the troubled carrier’s aircraft and other lease payments, after a court granted them a temporary exemption from liability.
A hearing to determine damages in the Queensland floods class action will proceed next week despite an appeal brought by the two dam operators that were found liable for the 2011 floods in the state that destroyed 2,000 homes.