Herbert Smith Freehills

A judge has allowed Slater & Gordon to adjourn a fight about security for costs in a shareholder class action against Beach Energy until it has more favourable evidence of its debt financing position, over the energy company’s objection to the “doctrinally unprecedented” application.

A judge has ordered soft class closure ahead of mediation in a class action against five major banks over alleged foreign exchange rate-rigging, saying the applicant’s subjective view on what will assist mediation should not be imposed on the banks.

A judge has questioned the applicant’s opposition to soft class closure in a class action accusing five major banks of rate-rigging, a measure the banks say could save “tens of millions” in legal expenses. 

The applicant in a competition class action against AGL Energy has failed to find another funder to back the case after the original funder that bankrolled the case withdrew its support.

A judge has sentenced the former CEO of Bingo Industries to two years’ imprisonment to be served in the community and imposed $30 million in penalties against the waste company for a cartel arrangement with rival Aussie Skips, which copped fines of $3.5 million and an 18 month’ intensive corrections order for its boss. 

Beach Energy is fighting a bid to adjourn a fight about security for costs in a shareholder class action until the firm that’s running it has more favourable evidence of its debt financing position, saying the application is “doctrinally unprecedented.”

The ACCC’s rejection of a $4.9 billion merger between ANZ and Suncorp was hardly surprising given the concentrated nature of the home loans market, but the competition regulator faced an uphill battle in having the decision upheld, an expert says.

The ACCC’s decision to block a $4.9 billion merger between ANZ and Suncorp has been set aside, with a tribunal finding the transaction will not substantially lessen competition in the home loans market or for agribusiness and SME clients in Queensland. 

Shareholders of New Zealand construction giant Fletcher Building have told a court that late claims in their class action over alleged misleading 2017 profit forecasts are not time barred because knowledge of the allegations was not discoverable before the case was filed.

Queensland power company Stanwell has flagged a possible ‘no case to answer’ submission in an upcoming competition class action trial that would seek to shut the case down mid-trial, with a judge saying it was “highly unlikely” to succeed.