Companies

Forty-four charges have been outlined in a long-awaited indictment in a criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement, including 29 charges against top executives from ANZ, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup.

Two insurance brokers have dodged being dragged into class action proceedings against sandalwood producer Quintis to boost a settlement reached last year, as a fight over insurance owed to the company to cover the settlement continues.

Further attempts to settle a securities class action against last mile logistics software firm GetSwift would be like flogging a dead horse, a judge has heard as the matter works its way towards a final hearing.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia could be on the hook for a large penalty after the court found the bank engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and violated its financial services obligations on more than 12,000 occasions by overcharging customers more than $2.2 million in interest.

PricewaterhouseCoopers is looking to shut down a class action by irate bondholders of collapsed asset finance lender Axsesstoday Limited over alleged misrepresentations in a $50 million bond offer.

Pharmaceutical companies Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb are liable for losses to the federal government for excess subsidies it allegedly paid for the blood-thinner Plavix after an unjustified court injunction prevented the release of a generic version of the top-selling drug, an appeals court has heard.

A $37.75 million settlement has been reached in a shareholder class action against Estia Health that accused the aged care provider of failing to disclose difficulties in its 2015 and 2016 acquisition strategy.

US pharmaceutical giant Merck Sharp & Dohme has taken Sandoz to court for allegedly threatening to infringe the patent for its multibillion-dollar diabetes drugs Janumet and Januvia.

GetSwift has been criticised for its "quite unfair attack" on a Federal Court judge who refused to disqualify himself from hearing a shareholder class action against the logistics software company after presiding over ASIC's civil penalty proceeding against the company.

A judge has raised questions about an estimated $13.6 million in legal costs to be sought in an upcoming approval hearing on a $44.5 million settlement reached in a shareholder class action against Woolworths.