Private follow-on actions for consumer law violations will be easier to bring under a new bill introduced in the House on Wednesday, a potential boon to class action lawyers in Australia.
A joint parliamentary report released today blasted consumer protections for life insurance as weak, and called for an expansion of consumer protection laws to the life insurance sector and stronger enforcement powers for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Reckitt Benckiser Australia has lost a bid for an interim ban on a commercial by rival Procter & Gamble that claims Fairy Platinum dishwashing detergent is better than RBA’s Finish Quantum detergent, with a judge ruling the scientific evidence backs up the claim.
Corrs Chambers Westgarth has filed a shareholder class action against GetSwift alleging it provided inadequate disclosures and misled investors with its overhyped announcements about business contracts, one month after Squire Patton Boggs brought a similar suit.
ATM provider Cardtronics has agreed to change its small business contract, after the Australia’s consumer regulator found some of the terms of the contract were unfair.
The Royal Bank of Scotland has agreed to pay $12.58 million to settle a consumer class action brought on behalf of purchasers of its financial products.
The High Court of Australia has rejected an appeal by the Port of Newcastle to overturn a decision that declared the shipping channel at the port and gave the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission regulatory power to settle access disputes.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will reconsider its approach to penalties for competition law breaches, in the wake of a report that found companies faced substantially lower penalties in Australia than in countries with similar competition regimes.
Australia’s consumer regulator said Friday that protecting franchises from unfair business practices will continue to be a top priority this year, one day after the Senate voted to establish an inquiry into the franchising industry.
Residents and property owners whose homes were damaged or destroyed after a bushfire in Tathra, NSW — believed to have been sparked by an Essential Energy power line — are being invited to join a potential class action by Slater and Gordon.