Judgment

The ACCC’s decision to block a $4.9 billion merger between ANZ and Suncorp has been set aside, with a tribunal finding the transaction will not substantially lessen competition in the home loans market or for agribusiness and SME clients in Queensland. 

A judge has ordered Seven Network to pay $35,000 to a man who said he was defamed by the broadcaster, finding that he “spat towards” but not at the alleged rape victim of rugby league footballer Jarryd Hayne. 

National Australia Bank has lost its bid to shield a case by a Melbourne gold bullion dealer after a judge said one of the bank’s arguments for suppression had “the air of a Kafka novel”.

The current owners of vitamin giant Nature’s Care have lost a bid to extend an urgent injunction against the company’s founding family amid fears they were trying to regain control of the corporate group, with a judge finding the family may faced oppressive conduct themselves.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has won its underpayments case against restaurant chain Sushi Bay and its director, with a judge finding the company forced migrant workers to pay back their entitlements in cash in a “calculated and institutional effort” to conceal wrongdoing. 

The maker of Finish dishwashing products, RB Hygiene, has won a partial appeal in a trade mark stoush with rival Henkel, with the Full Court reviving two of its trade marks but rejecting its challenge to a logo for competing Somat-branded products.

Mazda has been ordered to pay $11.5 million after a court found the Japanese car maker engaged in “appalling” customer service and misled nine purchasers of defective vehicles about their entitlement to a refund or replacement under the Australian Consumer Law.

Two marine freight companies have lost a fight with a local council which refused to allow it to unload 3,000 head of cattle at Apollo Bay in Victoria, with a judge finding they were “the architects of their own misfortune” for striking a deal with a beef company before securing permission to berth at the port. 

Asylum seekers who were put in immigration detention in South Australia can transfer their cases to the Federal Court to run their claims as a class action accusing the federal government of negligence and unlawful detention.

A Melbourne orthopaedic clinic has lost its bid to register the name ‘Melbourne Bone and Joint Clinic’ as a trade mark, with a judge finding the phrase was just an ordinary combination of words.