A judge has handed Ultra Tune a $1.5 million fine for contempt, saying the car repair franchise failed to meet the requirements of a court-ordered compliance program, instituted after the company copped a $2 million fine for contravening its disclosure obligations to franchisees.
Builder J Hutchinson and the union for construction workers have successfully appealed a finding that they unlawfully agreed to boycott an independent subcontractor at a Brisbane building site.
The Full Federal Court has found it was “abundantly clear” on the evidence before a trial judge that funeral expenses insurance provider ACBG misrepresented to Aboriginal customers that it was Aboriginal owned or managed, but found ASIC contributed to the error with its bad pleadings.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has won sequestration orders against Gold Coast ‘finfluencer’ Tyson Scholz after he failed to pay the regulator’s costs in proceedings that resulted in him being permanently barred from carrying on a unlicensed financial services business.
More companies may find themselves in the position of Medibank — which recently failed to stay representative proceedings before the privacy regulator while a related class action is on foot — so long as the laws remain unchanged, and law firms are willing to gamble on privacy class actions.
A Sydney law firm and its principal have been fined $14,400 for disobeying a Fair Work Ombudsman compliance notice issued for the alleged underpayment of a paralegal, with a judge saying the lawyer’s belief she did not owe any wages was “unreasoned and unreasonable”.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has won a travel ban against a former director of collapsed cryptocurrency platform Blockchain Global while the regulator investigates suspected criminal offences.
Online auction business Grays has agreed to pay a $10 million penalty for engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct by posting hundreds of descriptions of cars for sale on its website that contained incorrect information.
A judge has sentenced the former CEO of Bingo Industries to two years’ imprisonment to be served in the community and imposed $30 million in penalties against the waste company for a cartel arrangement with rival Aussie Skips, which copped fines of $3.5 million and an 18 month’ intensive corrections order for its boss.
A judge has dismissed a bid by Medibank to restrain the Office of Australian Information Commissioner from proceeding with a class action-style complaint on behalf of millions of the private health insurer’s customers affected by an October 2022 data breach.