Fonterra has been hit with a class action by disgruntled dairy farmers who allege they were unlawfully underpaid when the processor slashed milk prices and sought a “clawback” in 2016.
Animal health company Abbey Laboratories has successfully challenged an application by rival Bayer Australia for a patent covering a treatment for biting lice.
A judge has ruled in favour of live exporters in a class action against the Federal Government, finding a total ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia in 2011 was “capricious and unreasonable”.
A judge has rejected concerns about client poaching raised by the law firms involved in competing class actions against chemical giant Monsanto.
A class action launched over the Scotsburn bushfire that burnt down 12 homes and ravaged over 4,000 hectares in Victoria in December 2015 has reached a $10.5 million settlement with agricultural machinery company Agrison and insurer Auto & General Insurance Company.
Agricultural giant Bayer can’t block an Australian herbicide maker from trade marking ‘Preceed’ for its products, with a delegate from the Trade Marks Office finding the mark was not deceptively similar to Bayer’s ‘Precept’ weed killer mark.
Grain handling group Viterra has been denied a post-hearing bid to reopen a lawsuit brought by Cargill Australia over its $420 million acquisition of Joe White, with a judge finding the application would lead to “substantial disruption and delay”.
A judge has signed off on a $37.5 million Murray Goulburn class action settlement but slashed $2 million in legal costs sought by Mark Elliott’s law firm, which is running the case.
Sparke Helmore has admitted that legal advice it provided to IOOF subsidiary Australian Executor Trustees was inadequate but has argued it should be responsible only for up to 10 per cent of the $76.6 million judgment against AET over the sale of a timber plantation by collapsed forestry giant Gunns Group.
Activist short seller Bonitas Research must pay Rural Funds Management almost $900,000 after the US-based Bonitas was found to have engaged in misleading or decpetive conduct in issuing a report describing the agricultural fund manager’s equity as “ultimately worthless”.