A judge has refused to order Commonwealth Bank of Australia to publish notice of a $7 million penalty in a case brought by ASIC on its mobile app, but the bank will have to alert customers to its misconduct on its website and online newsroom.
Westpac has released further details of its fraud claim against Bill Papas, founder of the Forum Group of Companies, painting a picture of an elaborate scheme to misappropriate $254 million to buy real estate, jewellery, luxury cars, racehorses and European football teams.
The Federal Court has given the greenlight to a $30 million settlement in Shine Lawyers’ insurance class action against Westpac and will allow post-settlement registration notices to be sent to group members.
The former senior counsel in a settled insurance class action against Westpac has had his fees reduced by $70,000 after the Federal Court heard some of the work for which he charged was not done in the interests of group members.
A judge has slammed an “absurd” class action settlement offer made by pelvic mesh device maker Astora Women’s Health that would require Shine Lawyers to provide the company with indemnities, saying “no rational judge” would approve it.
A judge has entered default judgment against the sister of NBA star Ben Simmons in a defamation case by her half-brother over tweets alleging he sexually molested her as a child, after the court heard she would not defend the proceedings.
Westpac has told the Federal Court it has “grave concerns” about Forum Group founder Bill Papas’ evidence of his assets, contained in affidavits lodged on Thursday after weeks of non-compliance with a judge’s orders.
Qantas has lost a case brought by the Transport Workers Union that challenged the airline’s decision to axe 2,000 staff and replace them with “insecure” labour hire workers, with a judge finding Qantas boss Andrew David outsourced ground operations partly to prevent employees engaging in industrial action.
A judge weighing a dispute between ASIC and the Commonwealth Bank over whether notice of a $7 million penalty should be sent out through the bank’s Commbank app has questioned the usefulness of adverse publicity notices and whether they should be ditched for higher pecuniary penalties in the future.
Forum Group director Bill Papas intends to return to Australia to face $400 million fraud allegations but doesn’t have the funds for a flight home, his lawyer told the Federal Court Wednesday.