The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has been fined $150,000 after a Federal Court judge found the bank had breached the law by increasing a problem gambler’s credit card limit but that the conduct was “not systematic, deliberate or covert”.
An offer by billionaire Clive Palmer to pay $21 million for all remaining shares in villas at the Palmer Coolum Resort in Queensland and drop 14 lawsuits over resort ownership has been rejected by villa owners.
A judge due to hear a high profile appeal by Johnson & Johnson unit Ethicon has expressed confusion about the grounds on which the medical device maker is challenging a landmark judgment putting it on the hook for potentially hundreds of million of dollars in damages over faulty pelvic mesh implants.
ASIC chairman James Shipton has temporarily stepped aside pending an independent review of $118,000 in payments made to the regulatory head linked to his relocation from the US in 2018.
The lawyers behind two class actions against clothing retailer Surfstitch breached their duties to act in the best interests of shareholders, and their conduct should bar them from pocketing more than $6 million claimed in costs and commission in the protracted litigation, a court has heard.
A judge has found that auditor Ernst & Young cannot rely on the privilege against self-incrimination in a lawsuit brought over its audits of failed financial services firm LM Investment Management.
James Mawhinney, director of the besieged Mayfair Group, has lost his bid to slow down two proceedings filed by ASIC which he claims will have a “catastrophic” effect on his business, staff and investors.
Billionaire Clive Palmer has claimed that he wrote the lyrics to ‘Australia’s Not Gonna Cop It’ in the early hours of the morning while “deep in contemplation” at his bedside, telling the Federal Court that the song was inspired by the Peter Finch film ‘Network’ and not Twisted Sister’s rock anthem.
The consumer watchdog has filed court proceedings against Fuji Xerox alleging the Japanese print giant’s standard form contracts with small businesses contain a bevvy of unfair contract terms that could cause them harm.
A judge’s decision to throw out a shareholder class action against engineering company Worley is a loss for plaintiffs lawyers and could result in fewer listed companies willing to settle cases alleging they breached their disclosure obligations, but the ruling is not likely to have a significant chilling effect on securities litigation.
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