A silk and former Clayton Utz litigation partner who represented the directors of failed telco OneTel in a nearly decade-long ASIC case that ended in a defeat for the corporate regulator has been appointed a judge on the Federal Court.
A fine imposed against the Commonwealth Bank for false and misleading representations to customers should reflect offences that were “well below the midpoint” of seriousness, counsel for the bank has told a judge overseeing the first criminal case of its kind.
A judge has given the green light to amended pleadings in a class action accusing major banks of entering a cartel agreement to rig foreign exchange rates, bringing a two-year fight over the pleadings closer to resolution.
Infrastructure developers Lendlease and Acciona are suing each other for tens of millions of dollars over alleged losses stemming from Acciona’s $160 million acquisition of Lendlease’s engineering business, which saw it take over the Gawler rail project in South Australia.
Embattled Sydney accountant Vanda Gould has lost his defamation case against the Commissioner of Taxation, with a court finding Chris Jordan’s defamatory comments constituted a “robust”, but proportional, counter-attack to Gould’s public disparagement of the Australian Tax Office.
An ex-Rentokil supply manager has admitted that payments from the pest control company totalling $3.2 million were sent to his bank accounts but has denied this was part of a fraudulent invoicing scheme.
The Federal Court has slugged wealth management firm Colonial First State Investments with a $20 million penalty for misleading almost 13,000 superannuation members about their MySuper entitlements through a “concerted campaign” that lasted two years.
The High Court has thrown out sacked climate skeptic professor Peter Ridd’s appeal of his dismissal by James Cook University, finding protection of intellectual freedom is not a “general freedom of speech”.
Struggling mining firm Griffin Coal has been ordered to pay $5.1 million to liquidators of a collapsed mining services company after a judge found it had breached a contractual term not to trade while insolvent.
Insurers have largely succeeded in challenging COVID-19 business interruption losses claimed by a group of small businesses, in an important second test case that could save the industry billions of dollars.