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ATO wins info on 1,500 tax docs, teeing up potential privilege battle with CUB
Iconic Australian beer manufacturer Carlton & United Breweries has lost an appeal seeking to shield information about 1,500 allegedly privileged documents from the Australian Taxation Office.
Woolworths says $330M underpayments remediation should scuttle FWO’s case
Supermarket giant Woolworths has denied the Fair Work Ombudsman is entitled to seek compensation for its underpayment of staff, saying its $330 million remediation to affected employees fully answers the regulator's case.
Judge’s patience for ‘flipping and flopping’ prosecutors in ANZ cartel case wearing thin
A judge has questioned whether he should allow prosecutors to amend charges against ANZ and its treasurer in a criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion share placement after the bank argued the charges were defective and should be quashed.
Judge slams government for lacking ‘common courtesy’ in Beetaloo climate change case
A judge has rebuked the Morrison government for approving a gas exploration contract with a subsidiary of Empire Energy in the Beetaloo basin without notifying the environmental organisation leading a climate change lawsuit over the project.
PwC a ‘different beast’ to law firms when it comes to privilege, court hears
Assessing claims of privilege involving multidisciplinary firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers that offer legal and accounting services is "inherently awkward", a court heard on the final day of a hearing in a privilege battle between the accounting firm and the ATO.
PwC partner kept on JBS brief to maintain privilege despite CFO’s unhappiness
A PwC partner who the ATO claims was assigned to work on a matter for meat processing company JBS to bring a “cloak of legal privilege” kept a supporting role on the brief despite the company CFO’s dissatisfaction, a court has heard.
Merck Sharp & Dohme appeals judgment tossing Januvia patent extension
Merck Sharp & Dohme is seeking to overturn a judgment refusing an extension of a patent covering its Januvia and Janumet diabetes drugs that would have seen the US drug maker of retaining a monopoly over the multibillion dollar medicines beyond July 2022.
PwC partner at centre of ATO privilege spat earned less than non-lawyer assistants, court hears
A PwC partner who the ATO claims was assigned to work on a matter for meat processing company JBS to bring a "cloak of legal privilege" earned hundreds of dollars less per hour than his non-lawyer assistants, a court has heard.
PwC client says ATO’s privilege case ‘nightmare to the rule of law’
Meat processing company and former PricewaterhouseCoopers client JBS has slammed as a “nightmare to the rule of law” a claim by the Commissioner of Taxation that the accounting giant’s internal protocols destroyed the company’s lawyer-client relationship.
PwC partner was used to give ‘cloak of privilege’ to work, ATO tells court
Accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers used one of its legally qualified partners as a "postbox" to provide a "cloak of privilege" to work conducted for meat processing company JBS, the Commissioner of Taxation has told the Federal Court.