Potential new entrants to a major freight terminal in Queensland will be “better protected” by a last-minute promise by the terminal’s hopeful owner, Pacific National, than if the ACCC had succeeded in blocking the rail operator’s proposed $205 million acquisition, according to the judge who dismissed the competition watchdog’s case.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission chair James Shipton has clarified the regulator’s “why not litigate” approach to enforcement, saying it does not mean “litigate first” or “litigate everything”.
The High Court has agreed to take up an appeal by mining giant BHP Group Limited in its battle with the Australian Tax Office over an $82M tax bill.
The writing may be on the wall for common fund orders in class actions that put all unregistered group members on the hook for a litigation funder’s commission, after the High Court agreed Wednesday to take up landmark challenges by Westpac and BMW, experts say.
The High Court has granted applications by Westpac and BMW to weigh in on the validity of common fund orders made in class actions, a decision that could have major ramifications for the way representative proceedings are funded.
Irrigators in Australia’s South East have launched a class action against the Murray-Darling Basin Authority claiming its mismanagement of the river system caused up to $830 million in losses.
A court has dismissed a long-running case against defunct Babcock & Brown executives by a private investment fund over a botched $1.4B acquisition of the biggest laundry equipment provider in the US, saying the executives did not breach their duties by failing to disclose that the bank underwriting the deal allegedly wanted out.
Industry-owned Queensland Sugar Limited has succeeded in dismissing a court case brought by Wilmar Sugar Australia after record-high rainfalls led to a $60.8 million loss in 2010.
Orange Is The New Black star Yael Stone, who has accused Geoffrey Rush in interviews of lewd behaviour toward her, can be revealed as the witness who unsuccessfully sought to give evidence at trial in Rush’s defamation case against Daily Telegraph publisher Nationwide News.
Lawyers for a shareholder class action against Crown Resorts have won their hard-fought battle to question ex-employees about the casino giant’s thwarted business in China, with a judge ruling Wednesday there would likely be a “serious adverse effect” on the administration of justice if they weren’t free to give evidence ahead of trial.