A groundbreaking class action ruling by the Federal Court on Thursday that found Myer misled shareholders and accepted the applicant’s market-based causation theory is the only judgment in an Australian securities class action since the first shareholder case was brought 20 years ago, and it might be the only one for years to come.
A judge has ruled that department store Myer engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and breached its continuous disclosure obligations when it failed to correct its “inflated” 2015 net profit forecasts, but said shareholders may not have suffered any loss flowing from the breaches, in a monumental decision that also found investors do not always need to prove direct reliance on misrepresentations in claiming damages in class actions.
Responding to a class action on behalf of over 250,000 car owners, auto giant Toyota has admitted issues with filters in three of its diesel vehicle models but says drivers who failed to respond to warning lights in their cars could not clam damages for any breaches of quality guarantees.
Italian coffee manufacturer Lavazza has hit back against an infringement case brought by Australian rival Vittoria over two Oro trade marks, saying Vittoria’s rights over the marks should be revoked and claiming four decades of prior continuous use of its own unregistered mark.
Activist US short seller Bonitas Research is refusing to participate in legal action brought in Australia by Rural Funds Group, as it continues to press allegations of fraud, which sent the agricultural fund managerās share price plummeting.
The a2 Milk Company has come up short again in opposing a competitor’s bid to register a trade mark containing “a2”, with a delegate finding the reputation of its goods does not lie in the descriptive term a2 alone.
A judge is considering whether he can increase a record $75 million civil penalty settlement reached by Volkswagen and the ACCC over the dieselgate scandal, after saying the people of Australia would be āupsetā if they knew about some of the āoutrageousā terms to which the consumer watchdog had agreed.
Two former Dick Smith directors targeted by dual class actions have expanded their case against Deloitte over the retailer’s 2016 collapse, saying if the company was found liable for shareholder losses then the auditor should be blamed for its shoddy work on the company’s financial statements during its float three years earlier.
The litigation funder bankrolling a new class action against Toyota over allegedly faulty filters in its diesel models is looking to earn a step-up commission of between 20 and 30 percent of any recovery in the case.
The judge who presided over a rare securities class action trial last year against department store Myer will deliver judgment in the case this month that could be the first ruling on causation in Australian shareholder class actions and has the potential to have a chilling effect on law firms bringing the cases.