The judge who dismissed the ACCC’s challenge to Pacific National’s acquisition of Aurizon’s Acacia Ridge Terminal in Queensland had no power to accept an undertaking by the rail operator as an answer to the competition regulator’s case, an appeals court has been told.
A former manager of Australian electronics automotive developer Directed Electronics OE has failed to block access to certain documents in a corporate theft case, despite the Federal Court finding they gave rise to a “real and appreciable risk” of civil or criminal prosecution against him.
Clive Palmer and his company Mineralogy have survived a High Court challenge by Hong-Kong based CITIC to a ruling that put it on the hook for at least $224 million in unpaid royalties from producton at the Sino Iro mine, but a related $297 million suit by Palmer against the Chinese conglomerate has flopped.
An ACCC officer who was heading up a team investigating alleged cartel conduct by ANZ Banking Group and three investment banks has admitted that the regulator may have made an ‘oversight’ in a letter of comfort offered to JPMorgan ahead of the bank’s immunity application in the case.
A law firm has won its case seeking preliminary discovery from Essential Energy to pursue a possible class action against the state-owned electricity infrastructure company over the 2018 Tathra bushfire in NSW.
Herbert Smith Freehills cannot recover its costs for successfully representing itself in litigation with United Petroleum over the company’s aborted initial public offering, with an appeals court finding the High Court’s recent ruling eliminating the so-called Chorley exception for self-represented lawyers applies to law firms as well.
The law firms running two competing product liability class actions against chemical giant Monsanto over its allegedly cancer-causing weed killer have been unable to reach agreement on how they will jointly manage the cases, a court has heard.
Nine-owned Fairfax Media has been sent back to the drawing board to redo what a judge called a “very unhelpful” defence to a defamation lawsuit brought by venture capitalist Elaine Stead over articles that appeared in the Australian Financial Review about her role in the collapse of fund manager Blue Sky Alternative Investments.
Vodafone has won its case against the ACCC over its proposed merger with rival telecommunications company TPG, with a judge ruling the tie-up would not substantially lessen competition and had a real chance of becoming a “competitive force” against the two dominant players in the market, Telstra and Optus.
Australian agricultural fund manager Rural Funds Group has won its legal action alleging US short seller Bonitas Research engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct when it described the group’s equity as “ultimately worthless” and sent its share price plummeting.