Westpac has hit back at a class action accusing it of colluding with car dealers on a “shonky” car loan scheme that allowed them to hike up interest rates to earn higher commissions, saying consumers could have shopped around for a better deal.
A judge has allowed a unit of recruitment firm Tandem to file cross-claims against individual group members in an underpayment class action, in a rare move that may spark important changes in representative proceedings.
A class action by franchisees against mobile and internet retailer TeleChoice will return to the Victoria Supreme Court next week as group members seek commissions they allege have been withheld while the company battles separate litigation against Optus.
An Australian maker of neoprene handbags sold at high-end retailers has appealed its loss in a copyright dispute over alleged knockoffs, contesting a judge’s finding that its trendy tote is not a work of artistic craftsmanship.
Australasian food company Goodman Fielder has successfully challenged a bid by Conga Foods and an Italian pasta producer to register the ‘La Famiglia’ trade mark for pasta products.
Nine-owned Fairfax will have to pay out over $2 million in legal fees after being hit with indemnity costs on top of a $280,000 judgment in its defamation spat with venture capitalist Dr Elaine Stead for its “Micawber-like” approach to the case.
A judge has rejected a class closure order application by the lead applicants in a class action against convenience store chain On The Run ahead of mediation, finding that the court does not have power to make such an order at a “relatively early” stage in a class action.
A judge has ordered ASIC to enter mediation before heading into a “very expensive” trial with an IOOF subsidiary accused of giving shonky advice, over objections from the regulator that mediation would be “completely futile”.
IOOF subsidiary Australian Executor Trustees failed to drag law firm Sparke Helmore into a case after it was hit with a $76.6 million judgment over breaches of duty in the sale of a 42,000 hectare timber plantation by collapsed forestry giant Gunns Group.
Fairfax has hit back at claims in a lawsuit that the publisher defamed a barrister in an article alleging he helped Texas billionaire Bob Brockman defraud the United States of US$2 billion in taxes, denying the article defamed the lawyer and saying the report was an honest summary of publically available information.