Industries

Sydney-based online broker International Capital Markets has been hit with a class action, and is facing the threat of another representative proceeding by investors who lost money trading risky contracts for difference.

Automotive electronics company Directed Electronics has won a $168.5 million award after a judge found its former manager and South Korean giant Hanhwa engaged in a “reprehensible” trade secrets theft.

Network Ten has argued that accused rapist Bruce Lerhmann’s evidence should be treated with “extreme suspicion” and rejected where it is not corroborated, as the judge overseeing Lehrmann’s defamation case against the broadcaster noted “real credit issues” with both Lehrmann and his accuser Brittany Higgins. 

In a victory for Zurich Australia, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has lost its first-ever civil penalty case alleging an insurer failed to act with utmost good faith during claims handling.

Vittoria’s Cantarella Bros has lodged an appeal in a long-running trade mark stoush with Italian rival Lavazza after a judge found the coffee manufacturer’s two registered ‘Oro’ marks should be cancelled because the word was previously used by another coffee supplier. 

Accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann’s denial that he had any sexual contact with his former colleague Brittany Higgins was “quite disgraceful conduct”, the judge presiding over his defamation trial has heard.

The High Court has agreed to weigh in on a 16-year battle between the federal government and French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis over an allegedly unjustified court order that prevented the release of a generic version of blockbuster blood-thinner Plavix.

A judge has approved a 24 per cent group costs order in a consolidated class action against a2 Milk, noting the complexity of the claims against the dairy giant and saying a GCO would align the class action lawyers’ interests with group members’.

Noumi has largely lost its bid to shield from a class action parts of its inhouse counsel’s evidence supporting a privilege claim over 3,000 documents seen by Ashurst and PricewaterhouseCoopers during an investigation into the company’s financial position.

The judge overseeing Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial against Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson has rejected a bid by the former chief of staff to then defence minister Linda Reynolds to avoid giving evidence on the basis of “harm it may cause to her health conditions”.