A powerful US business lobbying group should not be allowed to influence Australian politicians as they consider reforms to the country’s class action regime, two leading plaintiffs firms have said. But a lawyer for the group said singling it out was hypocritical given how many overseas litigation funders have hired firms to represent their interests in the current class action debate.
The Victorian Labor Government has successfully passed a landmark bill which makes the failure to properly pay workers a criminal offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison for guilty business owners.
A prominent Australian cancer researcher is suing the University of Technology Sydney for $744,000, alleging she was unfairly sacked after taking multiple periods of leave due to a physical disability.
Mayfair 101 has agreed to cease using the brand name Mayfair Platinum to settle a trade mark dispute brought by ASX-listed fund manager Platinum Asset Management.
A judge has rejected a bid by the CFMEU to pause a trial brought by two sacked union officials while the court gives the country’s attorneys-general a chance to intervene over constitutional arguments raised, saying the union’s barrister was wrong that the issues in the case could not be split up.
GetSwift “sat on” an announcement about a lucrative deal with US-based automotive sales and marketing firm N.A. Williams for more than three weeks, then leaked the news to the media before announcing it on the Australian Stock Exchange, ASIC has told the Federal Court on day two of a trial in the corporate regulator’s case against the logistics tech company.
ANZ has denied claims that it sold allegedly worthless insurance to group members in a class action against the banking giant, and has said the policies gave customers “peace of mind”.
While some judges have suggested a deed of company arrangement can be terminated at the comparatively low threshold that a liquidator may be “potentially” successful in litigating a claim, this is clearly not the test after a recent Full Federal Court ruling that affirms the high standard to be met by any challenge to a DOCA, where the deed compromises a commercial dispute, writes Baker McKenzies’ David Walter, Maria O’Brien and Ian Innes.
A judge has been accused of “very aggressively” raising issues with a barrister for the Federal Government over its failure to amend its defence in a $300 million class action centred on the Commonwealth’s controversial Robodebt scheme to match recent public admissions.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is seeking a contempt finding against a former solicitor for defunct vocational trainer Empower Institute over alleged billing practices.