A judge has signed off on a $2 million payout for Maddens Lawyers in a class action against electricity provider Powercor over a 2018 St Patrick’s Day bushfire in Victoria that settled last year for $17.5 million, despite finding that the law firm’s cost agreement with group members was void.
Two executives of car wash franchisor Geowash that were found to be knowingly involved in the company’s unconscionable conduct in its dealings with franchisees have lost their bid to void a costs agreement with law firm Thomson Geer, with a judge calling legal cost estimations “an inexact science”.
A company owned by Clive Palmer is appealing a ruling that denied its bid to temporarily block funding for a class action over the troubled Coolum Palmer Resort.
The ACCC has asked for an interim stay of an appeal by Indonesian airline Garuda, which has yet to pay a $19 million penalty for airline price fixing, telling the court it wanted to give the company another chance to explain its “entirely exceptional” non-compliance.
Property listing startup Zango has denied claims by listing giant Domain that its ads misleadingly represented that it will have listings before any of its rivals, saying the ads amounted to “puffery” but admitting that it self-reported the matter to the ACCC.
Dam operator Sunwater will join an appeal of a victory in a class action filed on behalf of victims of the 2011 Queensland floods, despite pleas from the firm running the case and the State of Queensland that insurers for the dam operators let the ruling stand.
Japanese beer giant Asahi has offered to divest key beer and cider brands in a bid to convince the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission to approve its planned $16 billion acquisition of Carlton & United Breweries.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has opened a formal review into whether Google’s $3 billion acquisition of fitness device company Fitbit will harm competition, including the potential impact of the search giant’s increased access to user data.
Medtronic owned Covidien and two other medical device manufacturers have been hit with a class action on behalf of thousands of women who claim to have suffered lifelong complications from the devices, the third class action over pelvic mesh implants brought in Australia.
The ACCC has revealed that it will bring at least four new competition cases this year, with chairman Rod Sims also promising that the regulator could pick up the pace when it comes to launching proceedings.