Class action law firm Maurice Blackburn has thrown its support behind a Federal Labor proposal that would force larger companies to reveal the extent of their gender pay gaps.
Shareholders in a class action against Sirtex Medical have lost a bid for an order preventing the life sciences company from quietly moving $128 million in cash assets out of the country after its $1.9 billion takeover by a Chinese private equity company comes into effect Thursday, but the battle over the money will likely continue.
Cricket Australia has reached a settlement in a lawsuit filed by a Tasmanian woman who was fired by the sports league for tweeting her views about abortion.
Supermarket giant Woolworths has been hit with a class action on behalf of investors who allegedly suffered losses when the company revised its sales and profit guidance and revealed it had been using the wrong pricing competitiveness and stock availability metrics.
A judge has struck out part of a class action against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia that alleges it kept investors in the dark about deficiencies in its systems for monitoring money laundering and terrorism financing risks, saying it wasn’t clear what the bank was expected to disclose.
A year after the Federal Court issued its important ruling on competing class actions and foreshadowed orders prohibiting duplicative legal fees, the company at the centre of the proceedings — organic baby food maker Bellamy’s — has called on the court to make good on its promise about costs.
Concerns that the proposed acquisition of Sirtex Medical by a Chinese private equity firm would leave the company with insufficient funds to cover a settlement or judgement in a class action were eased Wednesday, after a barrister said the takeover would leave the company with just under $1 billion in assets.
The judge overseeing lawsuits by the ACCC as well as multiple class actions against Volkswagen AG over the Dieselgate scandal has ordered the car maker to provide the names of executives who were responsible for the development of the emissions cheating software.
Maurice Blackburn has filed its promised class action against BHP Billiton over the Brazilian dam collapse, and the case puts a twist on typical funding arrangements, with the law firm looking to earn what it dubs a “litigation services fee” for financing the case itself.
A judge on Thursday struck out former Prime Minister Mark Latham’s defence in a defamation case filed against him by the political editor of pop culture site Junkee, calling it an “extraordinary document” and the “antithesis of a pleading”.