The High Court is poised this week to issue its judgment in a case challenging the validity of common fund orders in class actions, a ruling that could see litigation funding commission rates creep back up after hitting record lows.
APRA’s chairman has told Parliament that the regulator is “actively considering” what action it should take against Westpac in light of recent allegations by AUSTRAC that the bank breached anti-money laundering laws on 23 million occasions.
Funder IMF Bentham expects to bring in up to $130 million in income for backing the Queensland floods class action, after a judge ruled last week that the operator of two dams as well as the state government were responsible for the severity of the flooding that hit Southeast Queensland in 2011.
The liquidators of Atlas Construction have won access to advice supplied by law firm Ashurst as they pursue examination proceedings against two of the company’s former directors.
Woolworths is facing a class action alleging it underpaid workers to the tune of $620 million, more than double what the supermarket giant estimated when it disclosed the underpayments scandal last month.
Investors who sank $12.3 million into a fraudulent sports betting scheme run by convicted conman Peter Foster lost money because a Sydney lawyer failed to come forward with the truth, a judge has found.
Arguing the court was wrong to rule that its trade mark was not inherently distinctive, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is challenging a judgment that revoked its 20-year-old mark for ‘Community Bank’.
The Federal Court judge overseeing three class actions against the Commonwealth of Australia over allegedly toxic firefighting foam has criticised the government’s handling of the case, saying the court did not have to ask permission for how to run the proceedings.
A Federal Court judge has slapped Optus with a $6.4 million penalty for sending a misleading email to 138,988 mobile customers informing them their broadband service would be disconnected soon, just two days after the telecommunications giant copped a $1.5 million penalty for similar conduct.
The Full Federal Court has handed a win to Hytera in its high-stakes intellectual property litigation with Motorola, allowing the Chinese radio manufacturer to file an amended defence arguing Motorola should have alerted it to the alleged theft of its source code by former employees sooner.
For information on rights and reprints, contact subscriptions@lawyerly.com.au
