The consumer watchdog has sought more than $1.5 million in penalties against debt collector ACM Group after the company was found liable for harassing vulnerable customers, but a judge on Tuesday questioned whether the fine, which could leave the company insolvent, was too punitive.
The Commonwealth has urged the court to strike out the “inconsistent” pleadings of pharmaceutical firms Otsuka and Bristol-Myers Squibb in a patent case over the antipsychotic drug Abilify, calling them a “scandal” which could bring disrepute to the administration of justice.
A shareholder class action led by Bannister Law against sandalwood oil producer Quintis will be absorbed by rival law firm Gadens in a consolidation agreement that ends a battle over the competing cases.
Hastie Group’s liquidators have offered to drop their $124 million case against two dozen major builders if the companies agree to pay an undisclosed sum toward their unpaid bills, a court heard Friday.
The director of property spruiker We Buy Houses has appealed a record $6 million for misleading property investors with claims they could learn to buy real estate for $1.
The former managing director of Murray Goulburn will be hit with a $200,000 penalty for being knowingly concerned in false representations made by the dairy producer to farmers about the farmgate milk prices it would pay during the 2015-16 milk season.
Pharmaceutical giant Wyeth has accused Merck Sharp & Dohme of a “baseless” patent invalidity case, saying on the second day of trial over the world’s best selling vaccine that the development of its patented Prevnar 13 pneumococcal shot was anything but obvious, as its rival contends.
Accounting giant Ernst & Young, which is accused in a class action of misleading and deceptive conduct in signing off on the 2015 and 2016 financial reports of sandalwood producer Quintis, has named the company’s previous auditor as partly to blame in any finding of liability.
A showdown between global pharmaceutical giants over the world’s best selling vaccine began Monday in Federal Court, with Merck Sharp & Dohme claiming three patents for Prevnar 13 sold by Pfizer’s Wyeth are invalid and that its own vaccine offers greater protection against pneumococcal bacteria.
Grain supplier Seednet has agreed to pay $1 million to settle an enforcement action by the consumer watchdog alleging it misled farmers about the performance of its latest barley variety.