Webb Henderson

Wealth manager MLC Limited has admitted to violating the Corporations Act by failing to send overdue notices to policyholders over a 15-year period, but will defend the bulk of ASIC’s claims in proceedings accusing it of causing $17.5 million in harm to over a quarter of a million consumers.

The law firms and barristers who defended former Dick Smith directors in sprawling litigation over the failure of the electronics retailer earned close to $68 million in fees, a court has heard.

The ACCC will seek a higher penalty against Employsure over misleading Google advertisements, after a judge found the consumer regulator’s proposed $5 million penalty was inappropriate and instead ordered the specialist workplace relations consultancy to pay $1 million.

National Australia Bank and HSBC should be “jointly and severally liable” to pay a portion of the costs of a failed case brought by Dick Smith’s receivers against the company’s former directors because the banks stood to gain financially if the lawsuit was successful, the NSW Supreme Court has heard.

Mazda’s treatment of customers with defective vehicles was “appalling” and its statements about their entitlement to a refund were false or misleading, a judge has found in a partial win for the ACCC.

Specialist workplace relations consultancy Employsure has been ordered to pay a $1 million penalty over a series of misleading Google advertisements, a figure significantly lower than the $5 million sought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

A judge said he “gagged” at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s proposed $5 million pecuniary penalty in its case against specialist workplace relations company Employsure over six misleading Google ads.

Dick Smith’s former CFO will appeal a $43 million judgment in favour of National Australia Bank over his role in the retailer’s collapse.

IOOF unit RI Advice has lost its bid to strike out ASIC’s novel case claiming it failed to protect its clients against cybersecurity risks, but a judge has chastised the regulator for causing “needless confusion” and “wasted time”.

An IOOF unit accused of failing to protect its clients against cybersecurity risks has slammed ASIC’s claims in the novel case, describing the regulator’s further amended statement of claim as “grossly unfair” and “completely incoherent”.