The former CEO of failed electronics retailer Dick Smith should be held responsible for approving two dividend payments worth $28.5 million which the company could not afford to pay given it owed millions in unpaid bank loans and supplier debts, an appeals court has heard.
IOOF financial advice unit RI Advice has escaped a penalty in a test case alleging cybersecurity failures, but the firm must engage an IT security company and pay the corporate regulator’s legal costs.
IOOF unit RI Advice has agreed to settle novel proceedings brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission claiming it failed to protect its clients against cybersecurity risks.
The consumer watchdog is challenging a court ruling that found Mazda’s treatment of customers with defective vehicles was “appalling” but did not amount to unconscionable conduct.
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.