Mastercard says legal professional privilege remained over a document after a junior lawyer “inadvertently” sent it to the ACCC in 2020 while the credit card giant was trying to dissuade the regulator from continuing an investigation into alleged anti-competitive conduct.
In a major win for two class actions and Fortnite maker Epic Games, a judge has found that Apple and Google misused their market power in running app stores and in-app purchase systems.
Law firm HWL Ebsworth, which was found liable for negligence over advice on a Parramatta land development, has lost its opposition to a referee process for calculating damages.
Mayfield Development has been granted the High Court’s leave to make its argument that derivative Crown immunity does not apply to NSW Ports, in a seven-year-old competition case.
A lot has changed in Australia and the US since 2016, when Turnbull and Obama were still in power, but the same can’t be said for a negligence suit against HWL Ebsworth filed by a client that year, laments a wistful judge.
Mastercard has pushed back on the ACCC’s argument that it waived privilege over communications with lawyers, saying it would “take the law of waiver to a place it has never been before”.
A judge has questioned whether he should decide a tax dispute that will impact how much damages a former HWL Ebsworth client will get in a nine year-old negligence case over a property development.
A judge has warned that an interlocutory privilege skirmish in the consumer watchdog’s misuse of market power case against Mastercard could “spiral out of control”.
The judge hearing the ACCC’s price-fixing case against Downer EDI’s Spotless and Ventia has proposed an initial hearing to determine if the companies are in competition, saying he won’t let the case become “totally unwieldy”.
A judge hearing the ACCC’s misuse of market power case against Mastercard has said he’s “loathe” to order any further discovery, as the credit card company argues a fight over waiver of legal professional privilege could involve “potentially enormous” further discovery.