Class Actions
In Google carriage fight appeal, Piper Alderman claims law firms’ cooperation anti-competitive
Piper Alderman claims a judge erred in finding there was no evidence that an agreement between Maurice Blackburn and Phi Finney McDonald to cooperate in running an ad tech class action against Google was struck for an anti-competitive purpose.
Privacy & Cybersecurity
Australian Clinical Labs agrees to $5.8M penalty over data breach
In the first penalty to be handed down for breaches of the Privacy Act, pathology services provider Australian Clinical Labs has agreed to cop a $5.8 million fine over a 2022 data breach that compromised the personal information of 223,000 customers of its Medlab business.
Employment
ANZ whistleblower trial kicks off, with trader admitting inappropriate messages
Former ANZ trader Etienne Alexiou has admitted during cross-examination that lewd messages sent to other bankers through Bloomberg’s messaging platform were inappropriate and could cause offence.
Trials
Clayton Utz senior advisor can’t take witness box in ANZ whistleblower trial
ANZ can't call its former group chief risk officer — now a strategic advisor for Clayton Utz — to give evidence as it defends a whistleblower case by former trader Etienne Alexiou.
Privacy & Cybersecurity
Optus reports another Triple Zero outage
Optus has suffered another Triple Zero outage, just over a week after a 13-hour outage across three states that was linked to the deaths of three people.
Competition & Consumer Protection
RV maker Jayco must back up defence claim in ACCC case, court says
Jayco must spell out its claim that it explained the specific features of its recreational vehicles to customers, as part of its defence to an ACCC case over alleged misleading statements, a judge has said.
Employment
ASX tried to silence whistleblower, hide failures from RBA, lawsuit says
A former contractor at the ASX has alleged the securities exchange was "embarrassed" by governance failures relating to a $200 million technology modernisation program and sought to hide the issues from the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Superannuation
REST misled over 2,000 members about insurance cover, ASIC says
Super trustee Retail Employees Superannuation has paid two infringement notices after ASIC alleged it misled over 2,000 members after inadvertently activating insurance cover.
Construction
Quasar Constructions liquidator wins fresh asset disclosure orders
An entity associated with the director of defunct Sydney builder Quasar Constructions has failed to hand over details about its assets to liquidators, prompting further orders with a warning from the court.
Telecommunications
Telstra reaches settlement with ACCC in case over Belong speeds
Telstra has reached an agreement with the consumer regulator after a court found the telco misled thousands of broadband customers about the speed of its budget internet provider, Belong.
