Competition & Consumer Protection

Internet provider TPG says it has been “vindicated” by a judge’s decision to throw out the consumer watchdog’s case over allegedly unfair contract terms that allowed the telco to keep millions of dollars of customer’s unused prepaid funds.

The plaintiffs in a farming class action brought against Advanta Seeds over allegedly contaminated sorghum have been denied access to the defendant’s insurance policy documents, after a judge found “significant differences” with a recently successful application in a class action against Radio Rentals.

The competition regulator has signed off on Viva Energy’s proposed acquisition of the remaining 50 per cent of Liberty Oil’s wholesale business, saying the deal was not likely to substantially likely to lessen competition in the wholesale fuel market.

The judge overseeing the long-running class action over allegedly faulty Ford PowerShift transmissions has told the applicants they might need to put up considerable cash security to cover the “war and peace of discovery” disputes, after Ford slammed the delayed request for documents as “complete and utter nonsense”.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued a formal warning to national broadband network operator NBN Co for what the regulator called a “serious breach” of its non-discrimination obligations to retail service providers.

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.

Prosecutors will not lay charges against BlueScope Steel over an alleged price-fixing conspiracy, but its former general manager of sales faces possible jail time after being charged with obstructing the ACCC’s investigation.

Lawyers for Norton Rose Fulbright have flagged their “very real concerns” about further delays to a long-running dispute with a former partner, who has indicated the will try to appeal a ruling partially granting him leave to appeal a discovery decision in the case.

Lawyers pursuing a class action against Scenic Tours on behalf of passengers whose European cruises were interrupted by severe flooding have been granted preliminary discovery as they weigh a second multi-million dollar class action against the company over cancellations caused by last year’s severe drought conditions.

An investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has come under fire by the banks and directors targeted in a criminal case over alleged cartel conduct that claim the regulator “contaminated” key evidence and improperly used material supplied by ASIC.