An average of 23 class actions have been filed every year in Australia since the class action regime was introduced in 1992, a number that belies recent claims of an explosion in litigation, a new report by a leading class action expert says.
Certain claims in a shareholder class action against insolvent training company Vocation and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers have been dropped, as the long-running case awaits a new trial date pending the outcome of a separate Full Court appeal.
Monster Energy has lost its opposition to coffee company Vittoria Food & Beverage’s proposed ‘Mothersky’ trade mark, with a delegate of the Trade Marks Office saying the energy drink company’s ‘Mother’ energy drink brand was so strong in the minds of consumers that there was no likelihood of confusion.
A former Piper Alderman partner who filed a sex discrimination case against the law firm and was ousted from the partnership months later, is pressing on with her legal action, which was stayed while her complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission played out.
American professional baseball organisation Major League Baseball is taking Philip Morris to court over the tobacco giant’s bid to extend protection for an international trade mark on the acronym ‘MLB’.
The banks and executives at the centre of a landmark criminal cartel case can question four ACCC investigators and witnesses from JP Morgan at an upcoming committal hearing, with a magistrate saying Friday there were “substantial reasons in the interests of justice” to allow the cross-examination.
The consumer watchdog is appealing a ruling dismissing its case against TPG over contract terms that allowed the internet provider to keep customers’ unused prepaid funds on phone or internet plans.
Sydney-based liquidator David Iannuzzi has been disqualified from serving as an insolvency practitioner for 10 years, in the first case brought by the Australian Tax Office under the Corporations Act’s ban on tax avoidance schemes.
A NSW Supreme Court judge has raised concerns about a dispute over fees owed to two law firms and a funder in relation to four shareholder actions brought against the liquidators of HIH Insurance.
The two law firms leading a class action against Toyota over allegedly defective filters in the car giant’s diesel models will be able to recover the legal costs of only one firm, a judge has said.
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