A court has shut down the latest legal spat between the children of one of Australia’s richest families, finding a lawsuit over a $200 million real estate transaction was not brought in good faith and that running the case was not in the best interests of the company involved in the deal.
A judge has hit women’s activewear company Lorna Jane with a $5 million penalty for representing to consumers during the height of the coronavirus crisis last year that its activewear would protect them from viruses including COVID-19.
When trial begins next month in the ACCC’s cartel case against BlueScope Steel, the parties will all appear by video, with a judge saying “hybrid” hearings – where some parties are in court and others appear by video – were “unsatisfactory”.
Car giant General Motors, which faces a class action by former Holden franchisees, wants to strip the case of class status, arguing that “idiosyncrasies” in group member claims could result in further lawsuits even after a judgment in the case.
Tabcorp and its Tatts unit have filed three proceedings against the ATO this year, with the gambling giants asking the court to allow a total of $538 million in deductions for gambling licences in three states over three financial years.
A settlement reached in a lawsuit by the liquidators of collapsed steel giant Arrium against 10 former company directors accused of insolvent trading has been approved by a judge, who noted that while the settlement amount was “substantial”, the deal involved a “substantial compromise”.
7-Eleven has reached an in-principle agreement to settle two class actions which accused the convenience store giant of misleading franchisees and underpaying employees at its stores.
The High Court has declined to hear a case that challenges the power of judges to make common fund orders at the close of litigation, a challenge the Federal Court had labelled “hypothetical”.
Two executives of failed car washing franchise Geowash have failed in their attempt to overturn a $2.7 million penalty for overcharging and misleading franchisees, with the Full Court finding they had engaged in “a consistent pattern of conduct which was deceitful and dishonest”.
The power to make common fund orders in class actions is a question before the High Court a second time, but the justices aren’t likely to quell the conflict simmering in the courts below, at least until they have a concrete order before them.