A group of unsecured creditors of ‘Diamond Joe’ Gutnik’s mining firm Merlin Diamonds has launched a NSW Supreme Court bid to preserve their rights over security interests in the company as the clock ticks down to its impending liquidation.
Bail conditions have been set for a former BlueScope Steel executive charged with obstructing an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission criminal cartel probe into the steel company, the first criminal charges ever brought against an individual in relation to an ACCC investigation.
The sole director and shareholder of OE Solutions can challenge a ruling ordering him to hand over seized documents to Australian automotive electronics developer Directed Electronics OE, with the Full Federal Court declining to adopt US precedent that carves out an exception to the privilege against self-incrimination for corporate custodians.
The competition regulator has been probing alleged cartel conduct by steel giant Bluescope for a number of years, counsel for the company told a court Friday as it sought transcripts of the watchdog’s compulsory interviews of witnesses and asked for five months to put on a defence.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s high-stakes case against Google is the first of its kind worldwide targeting the tech giant’s data collection practices. The ACCC is in familiar territory in bringing a front-page legal challenge under the consumer laws that will require it to prove misleading conduct by silence, but if recent losses by the regulator are any guide, it could face an uphill battle.
The Federal Court has ordered hair loss company Ashley & Martin to refund customers for hair loss treatment they did not receive, after finding three of the company’s standard form contracts contained unfair terms.
Ex-Tennis Australia director and current Dentons partner Steve Healy, who is facing action by the corporate regulator over the broadcast rights to the Australian Open, has lost a bid for access to six years of emails between two other former board members.
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.
Hong Kong-based UDP was entitled to $25 million from its insurers after losing more than $30 million from its disastrous acquisition of dairy conglomerate 5 Star Foods, which had been secretly overcharging one of its biggest customers, food giant Lion Nathan Group.
After being flooded with phone calls by class members wanting a share of a recent $16.4 million settlement with Cash Converters, law firm Maurice Blackburn will implement an automated message system to handle queries from 164,000 group members in the settled class action against Radio Rentals.