Group members in the Fitch Ratings class action have recovered almost 95 per cent of their losses in a $27 million settlement, which was narrowly approved after a judge scolded the parties for a lack of clarity around the mediation and opt-out process.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is planning to sue ANZ over $35 million in allegedly illegal customer fees, which were also at the centre of two class actions settlements reached last year under which customers are expected to walk away with no more than $100 apiece.
The judge overseeing seven class actions against car makers over defective Takata airbags has shot down the applicants’ opposition to a soft class closure order in advance of mediation, saying the cases would not be a “mystery tour” from here on out.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has expressed competition concerns about ANZ Terminals’ proposed acquisition of a unit of global agribusiness GrainCorp, despite the storage specialist offering to divest one of its terminals to win approval for the $350 million deal.
Collapsed engineering and construction company Forge Group has agreed to settle a shareholder class action over alleged continuous disclosure breaches, which will see the funder pocket about $7.5 million.
Mylan and Cipla have reached a speedy resolution of a consumer lawsuit accusing Cipla of copying the get-up of Mylan’s blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipidil.
Mineral sands producer Iluka Resources is threatening a dismissal bid in a shareholder class action it has spent $2 million fighting over the past year, amid concerns proposed security could be inadequate and the applicant has still to finalise an agreement with a litigation funder.
Lawyers for Queensland businessman Clive Palmer have apologised to the court for repeated delays in the Twisted Sister music copyright case, blaming the unavailability of experts and the mining magnate’s involvement in the Queensland Nickel liquidation trial for his lateness.
US tobacco giant Philip Morris has failed in its challenge before IP Australia to rival British American Tobacco’s application for a trade mark to be used on its electronic cigarettes.
Rival firms Apple Inc and Swatch AG have both failed in their opposition to the other’s trade mark extension application, with a delegate for the trade marks office allowing Apple’s Tick Different and Swatch’s Think Different to proceed to registration in Australia.