The High Court has cleared the way for victims of a rubbish tip fire that tore through 17,000 acres of farmland in the NSW Riverina to claim more than $20 million in damages in a class action, after rejecting an appeal bid by the local council.
A judge has thrown out the NRMA’s consumer case against the maritime union over its Sydney fast ferry campaign, ruling that a verdict in favour of the motoring body would have brought the “the entire field of industrial relations within the operation of consumer legislation”.
The competition regulator has given rural retailer company Elders the greenlight to proceed with its proposed $187 million acquisition of wholesale group Australian Independent Rural Retailers, but has warned it will be paying close attention to any future consolidation in the rural sector.
Electronics giant LG has been ordered to pay a $160,000 penalty after its call centre workers misled two complaining customers about their rights to replace a faulty television or get a refund under the Australian Consumer Law.
A settlement has been reached in an intellectual property lawsuit brought by famed Melbourne pub The Corner Hotel against McDonald’s alleging the fast food chain’s experimental hipster cafe in Sydney violates its “Corner” trade marks.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has warned it could take enforcement action if its finds banks are misleading customers about foreign exchanges fees and warned banks’ use of their compliance obligations to deny banking services to their non-bank competitors could constrain competition in the market for foreign exchange services.
Merck Sharp & Dohme has emerged victorious in a battle over documents with Wyeth, as the parties gear up for a hearing on Wyeth’s request to reopen a trial over three patents for its Prevnar 13 pneumococcal vaccine.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has brought proceedings against publicly-traded BlueScope Steel and a former general manager for allegedly engaging in “serious cartel conduct” in relation to the supply of flat steel products in Australia.
The Federal Court has partially struck out publisher Pan Macmillan Australia’s defence in a defamation case brought by Sydney identity Thomas Domican over a “fleeting reference” in a book by nightclub magnate John Ibrahim.
Actor Geoffrey Rush has come up short in his bid for an injunction blocking The Daily Telegraph from repeating allegations in the successful defamation case he brought against the publisher, with a judge citing the public interest in free speech and the lack of foundation for the actor’s concerns.