BlueScope Steel is seeking to overturn a record $57.5 million penalty for engaging in attempted price-fixing with flat steel distributors, telling an appeals court that it was simply trying to make its competitors understand “it was in their interests to price differently”.
The High Court has rejected an appeal by Captain Cook College of a finding that it engaged in systemic unconscionable conduct by enrolling thousands of unsuitable students, finding courts are not constrained by factors the consumer law says it “may consider” in deciding if conduct rises to the level of unconscionability.
The High Court has taken up the ACCC’s boycott case against builder J Hutchinson and the controversial construction union, an appeal that gives the court the chance to clarify the standard for proving an anti-competitive arrangement.
The High Court has been asked to overturn a Full Court decision finding lawyers can take a cut from a class action settlement under a solicitors’ common fund order and to finally settle the question of whether the court has the power to issue common fund orders at all.
Lawyers are allowed to take a cut from a class action settlement or judgment under a so-called solicitors’ common fund order, the Full Federal Court has ruled, saying they are a permissive use of the court’s power.
A judge has ordered SkyCity to pay a $67 million penalty in AUSTRAC’s case alleging it allowed $4 billion in suspicious transactions, finding it was an “appropriate” sum, even when compared with the $450 million fine handed to Crown last July.
Hearing arguments Tuesday on whether lawyers should be permitted to earn contingency fees in Federal Court class actions, judges on a Full Court bench appeared to lean in favour of allowing so-called solicitors’ common fund orders, rejecting claims they are “unjust”.
A court has found Qoin cryptocurrency issuer BPS Financial made false and misleading claims about its product, in a win for the corporate regulator and a likely boost for a class action against the Gold Coast-based digital currency company.
Investment manager IOOF has failed to persuade a judge that the applicant in a failed shareholder class action should face indemnity costs for rejecting a $6 million offer to settle the case.
Uber has hit back at claims that it engaged in corporate espionage by using a software program called SurfCam to lure drivers away from rival GoCatch, saying its actions could not be compared to burglary because the material it obtained was not confidential.