A scientist alleging she was fired from the CSIRO for filing sex discrimination and sexual harassment complaints has had the majority of her lawsuit against the government body dismissed, with the court finding she fabricated evidence and that an incident in which she was slapped on the backside with a riding crop by her supervisor and told to “get back to work” did not amount to sexual harassment.
Unique International College has been slapped with a $4.165 million penalty after a court found the defunct vocational trainer engaged in unconscionable conduct in enrolling students in courses costing up to $22,000.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s high-stakes case against Google is the first of its kind worldwide targeting the tech giant’s data collection practices. The ACCC is in familiar territory in bringing a front-page legal challenge under the consumer laws that will require it to prove misleading conduct by silence, but if recent losses by the regulator are any guide, it could face an uphill battle.
An impending judgment in the long-running class action against Johnson & Johnson unit Ethicon over allegedly defective pelvic mesh implants has sent the parties scrambling about opt out notices and the Federal Court considering reversing prior orders that expanded the group definition.
The cosmetics company behind the beauty range FreezeFrame has filed proceedings against a group of companies allegedly selling counterfeit versions of its popular products, which include the top-selling RevitalEyes.
A class action accusing Westpac of issuing unsuitable home loans is pushing forward with overhauled pleadings after the corporate watchdog lost a related regulatory action, and the class now says it was enough that the bank failed to account for borrowers’ so-called essential expenses.
The litigation funder that backed a now dismissed class action against aviation service provider Airservices has argued funders should not face costs orders in Fair Work class actions, with a judge saying the debate raised “a point of high principle”.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is seeking a stay of an appeal by PT Garuda Indonesia while the airline’s $19 million fine May for engaging in cartel conduct remains unpaid.
UGL shareholders that signed up to a class action against the engineering company over disclosures related to its Ichthys power plant contract will get less than half of an $18 million settlement, even after the litigation funder takes a steep cut to its 30 per cent commission and the plaintiff’s firm caps its fees.
A subpoena issued by the daughter of mining magnate Gina Rinehart seeking documents from Corrs Chambers Westgarth, the law firm representing her mother’s company, has been set aside by a judge, who found the material had no forensic purpose in the family’s long-running fight over a $5 billion trust.