An appeals court has been urged to uphold a judge’s $125 million penalty against Volkswagen in the ACCC’s case over the car maker’s emissions cheating, with a court-appointed contradictor saying the judge was “starved” of the information he required to assess whether a $75 million agreement brokered by the consumer watchdog was reasonable.
An error in an opt out notice sent to motorists eligible to sign up for a class action over allegedly defective diesel filters in Toyota vehicles has left a class action law firm on the hook for indemnity costs to cover a new notice to group members.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has delayed it decision on whether to block Google’s $3 billion tie-up with fitness device company Fitbit to allow time for the European Union to investigate the proposed merger.
ASX-listed generic drug maker Mayne Pharma is facing a possible shareholder class action over disclosures related to US price-fixing allegations against the ASX-listed company.
Health booking company HealthEngine has urged the court to accept a $2.9 million penalty for deleting and altering unfavourable reviews, telling a judge that it did not know the behaviour was against the law.
Fonterra could bring counter-claims against dairy farmers that brought a class action alleging they were unpaid when the company slashed milk prices in 2016, a court has heard, after debt recovery proceedings by Fonterra against the lead applicants were joined with the class action.
A judge has granted a mid-trial bid to bring in “potentially quite significant” new evidence in a class action against Ford over its allegedly defective PowerShift transmissions, finding the failure to file the material earlier was not deliberate but a “mistake” on the part of the lead applicant’s solicitors at Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has initiated proceedings against Victorian electric utility Sumo Power for allegedly luring customers with the promise of discounts and low rates only to jack up their prices months later.
AFT Pharmaceuticals has suffered another blow over its Maxigesic advertisements, with a judge finding the marketing material misled consumers by claiming to provide better, faster and more effective pain relief than paracetamol or ibuprofen.
Google and Facebook will face penalties of at least $10 million for breaches of a media bargaining code drafted by the ACCC that aims to create a “level playing field” between Australian media companies and the tech giants.