Companies

A judge overseeing competing consumer class actions against AMP over superannuation fees said he would be "reluctant" to hold a contest between the two cases, as the applicants in the rival proceedings tell the court they are in talks about possible consolidation.

A former Commonwealth Bank executive facing criminal commercial bribery charges has been ordered to hand over a number of documents in a US lawsuit brought by IT company Computer Sciences Corporation, but has avoided orders compelling him to take the witness stand.

Sparke Helmore has refuted allegations by IOOF subsidiary Australian Executor Trustees (SA) that it failed to provide proper legal advice to the trustee on a 2012 pine plantation sale that left 4,500 investors without millions of dollars worth of assets.

IOOF subsidiary Australian Executor Trustees (SA) is facing an $82 million claim for compensation by investors angered by the way the trustee handled the sale of a 42,000 hectare timber plantation run by collapsed forestry giant Gunns Group.

A court has approved a settlement between the liquidators of failed fund manager Equititrust and auditor KPMG, after not a single objection was raised by unitholders or creditors who won’t receive anything after the entire amount is paid to the funder.

The Commonwealth Bank must overhaul its privacy practices as part of a court-enforceable undertaking with the Australian Information Commissioner following two data breaches.

The consumer watchdog has issued fresh proceedings against Optus over its National Broadband Network marketing, alleging the telecommunications giant sent a misleading email to consumers just two days after it copped a $1.5 million penalty for similar conduct.

Media companies facing defamation suits by a former youth centre detainee are liable for third-party comments posted on their Facebook pages, a judge has ruled in a groundbreaking decision.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions and seven other unions have launched legal action on behalf of 27,000 workers over an alleged "sham" bonus scheme designed to pressure staff into accepting a future enterprise agreement.

Global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has successfully defended the patent for its sedative drug Precedex against a validity challenge, a big win for the drug maker after a US court found last year that its patents for a ready-to-use version of the drug were invalid for obviousness.