The High Court will hear a challenge by Western Power to an appeals court judgment which found that the state-owned electricity supplier breached its duty of care to inspect power poles on private land and was partly liable for property damage from the 2014 Perth Hills bushfire.
An appeals court grilled counsel for the ACCC on the first day of a hearing challenging the dismissal of its case over a NSW government deal to privatise two ports, calling on the lawyer to spell out how the state was alleged to be in competition with the consortium that took over the ports.
The CDPP’s decision to drop all criminal cartel charges against two banks and four individuals in a “test case” over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement shows the ACCC “lacks expertise and objectivity” on the financial markets and should leave them to ASIC to regulate, according to one of the former accused.
In a stunning reversal, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecution has dropped all criminal cartel charges against two investment banks and four individuals in relation to a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement, four years after the charges were brought following an allegedly questionable investigation by the ACCC.
A class action against Irish insurer Zurich Insurance Plc by unit owners of the defective New Zealand-based Victopia Apartments can proceed in Australia after the NSW Supreme Court ruled the case could not be filed elsewhere.
The High Court has rejected Volkswagen’s special leave application to challenge a record $125 million penalty for selling cars with a defeat device that allowed them to cheat on emissions tests.
A judge has thrown out an urgent bid by Australian religious leaders for a temporary exemption from COVID-19 lockdown orders in NSW and Victoria to observe upcoming religious holidays, saying granting the injunction may lead to deaths.
A judge has ordered the ACCC to pay the State of NSW’s costs in its failed proceeding against NSW Ports, finding that even though the consumer watchdog did not initially sue the state government that it was a “necessary and proper” party to the case.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has appealed a judge’s decision throwing out its competition case over an agreement for the privatisation of two NSW ports, calling the case “a matter of significance for the Australian economy”.
The ACCC’s claim that NSW Ports stymied competition when it signed a 50-year agreement with the state to be compensated if the Port of Newcastle built a container terminal was based on “mere speculative hopes”, a judge found in tossing the competition watchdog’s regulatory action.