The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has taken the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to court for slapping nearly 1 million customers with unauthorised monthly access fees totaling $55 million over a nine-year period.
The federal government is seeking summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by One Nation chief-of-staff James Ashby alleging it took adverse action against him by refusing to foot the bill for nearly $4.5 million in legal costs stemming from a dropped sexual harassment case against former House speaker Peter Slipper.
Construction company Clough Limited has appealed a ruling that found it cannot claim over $15 million paid to employees for cancellation of their shares and options as a tax deduction.
Brisbane-based sporting goods wholesaler FE Sports has been fined $350,000 for engaging in resale price maintenance that prohibited dealers from advertising certain products for less than the recommended retail price.
The Australian Taxation Office has successfully appealed a Federal Court decision finding it could not recover an R&D tax offset refund of around $2.3 million paid to Auctus Resources despite the payment being made by mistake and the mining company admitting it was not entitled to the money.
The Full Federal Court has ruled that unconscionable conduct under the Australian Consumer Law is not confined to exploitation of vulnerable parties, in an “extremely significant” judgment that will extend the reach of the unconscionable conduct provisions and protect a wider swathe of consumers.
The former wife of war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith will testify at an upcoming hearing that he lied about matters that are “centrally relevant” to his defamation case against three newspapers, a court has heard.
The Federal Court is set to determine whether artificial intelligence can be the inventor of a patent, after an AI pioneer filed a challenge to an IP Australia finding that allowing a machine to be considered an inventor would render the Patents Act incapable of “sensible operation”.
Health care giant Healius has lost its application to the High Court to challenge a $60 million win for the Australian Taxation Office.
A judge has dismissed claims brought by a former One Nation staffer against the federal government accusing it of being liable for former senator Brian Burston’s alleged sexual harassment, finding that the terms of her unfair dismissal settlement barred her from bringing sexual harassment allegations againt the Commonwealth.