LAW – AUSTRALIA – CASES

ANZ banks big win in class action fees battle

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Original article by Katie Walsh, Clancy Yeates
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 & 22 : 9-Apr-15

Law firm Maurice Blackburn may launch a High Court appeal against the Federal Court’s rejection of a class-action lawsuit against the ANZ Bank. The case centred on the question of whether bank fees were excessive, with more than 43,000 ANZ customers participating in the class action. Other major banks are subject to separate class actions over bank fees, with about 180,000 customers in all taking part

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, IMF BENTHAM LIMITED – ASX IMF, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, JONES DAY, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, BABCOCK AND BROWN LIMITED, KING AND WOOD MALLESONS

iiNet must reveal downloaders’ IDs

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Original article by Marianna Papadakis, David Ramli, Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 8-Apr-15

The Federal Court of Australia has upheld a bid to obtain the identities of people who allegedly downloaded illegal copies of a US film. Dallas Buyers Club LLC took legal action against several ISP to obtain the names and residential addresses of Australians associated with more than 4,700 IP addresses that were used to download "Dallas Buyers Club". The ruling affects iiNet, Dodo, Adam Internet, Amnet and Internode

CORPORATES
FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, IINET LIMITED – ASX IIN, DODO INTERNET PTY LTD, ADAM INTERNET PTY LTD, AMNET LIMITED, INTERNODE SYSTEMS PTY LTD, M2 GROUP LIMITED – ASX MTU, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB LLC, VOLTAGE PICTURES LLC, COMMUNICATIONS ALLIANCE LIMITED, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Union could face $500,000 in penalties

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 19-Mar-15

Fair Work Building & Construction director Nigel Hadgkiss will pursue significant financial penalties against the construction industry union following a Federal Court ruling. The court has ruled that the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union’s conduct during industrial action in Melbourne in 2012 was in breach of workplace laws. The union and six officials could face fines of more than $A500,000

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FAIR WORK BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, EMPORIUM MELBOURNE, McNAB PTY LTD, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA, GROCON PTY LTD, MONJON AUSTRALIA

Hockey claim for ‘substantial’ damages in Fairfax case

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Original article by Marianna Papadakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 18-Mar-15

The defamation case brought by Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey against Fairfax Media continued on 17 March 2015. Hockey is being represented by Bruce McClintock, SC, who told the court that in addition to general damages his client should receive aggravated damages. McClintock argued that the three Fairfax newspapers that published the allegedly defamatory articles should be treated separately in any assessment of general damages

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, NORTH SYDNEY FORUM, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Lower test will add fuel to the fire for shareholder class actions

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Original article by John Emmering, Michael Legg
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 32 : 13-Mar-15

In most cases, shareholder class actions in Australia are based on alleging causation between losses incurred by shareholders and directors’ behaviour. Until now, Australian courts have required proof of individualised reliance. The Federal Court’s observations in the case against Babcock & Brown directors are likely to stimulate discussion of causality in class actions

CORPORATES
BABCOCK AND BROWN LIMITED, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, DOWNER EDI LIMITED – ASX DOW, ARASOR CORPORATION, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, JONES DAY

Foul-mouthed truckie firing ‘unfair’

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Original article by Lucille Keen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 20-Feb-15

Australia’s Fair Work Commission (FWC) has upheld an Aussie Waste Management employee’s claim that his dismissal for swearing at the managing director was unlawful. The garbage truck driver was summarily dismissed after using offensive language during a private telephone conversation with the executive. FWC deputy president Nicole Wells noted that swearing in some workplace’s is quite common in 2015, adding that the phone call was private and not overhead by other staff

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSSIE WASTE MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RESOURCES INSTITUTE, K&L GATES LLP

Packer doesn’t want to share his Crown

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Original article by Jessica Gardner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 18 : 9-Feb-15

The Federal Court will be asked to rule on the right to use the Crown brand and logo in a trademark dispute between James Packer and property developer Iwan Sunito. Packer’s Crown Resorts is seeking to have Crown Group Holdings barred from using trademarks such as Crown Apartments, Crown Towers and Crown Resort in marketing its apartment projects. The listed group is undertaking its own apartment project as part of the Crown Sydney hotel and casino development

CORPORATES
CROWN RESORTS LIMITED – ASX CWN, CROWN GROUP HOLDINGS PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, CROWN MELBOURNE LIMITED, ECHO ENTERTAINMENT GROUP LIMITED – ASX EGP, THE STAR, CITY OF SYDNEY, SYDNEY CHRISTIAN WORSHIP CENTRE

Hird’s legal bill ‘above $1m’, as hearing nears end

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Original article by Jon Pierik
The Age – Page: 45 : 5-Feb-15

Lawyer Natalie Hickey suggests that Essendon coach James Hird has already racked up legal costs of at least $A1m in the long-running doping scandal. This includes Hird’s own legal expenses and the costs incurred by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA). Meanwhile, ASADA’s lawyers must present their final arguments to the Australian Football League’s anti-doping tribunal by 5 February 2015

CORPORATES
ESSENDON FOOTBALL CLUB, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, AUSTRALIAN SPORTS ANTI-DOPING AGENCY, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Last chance to join NAB action

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Original article by Georgia Wilkins
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 27-Jan-15

Some 40,000 people so far have agreed to participate in a class action against National Australia (NAB) over exception fees. The deadline for taking part in the class action is 27 January 2015, and NAB indicated in late 2014 that it will seek to negotiate a settlement. Nine other banks are involved in a broader class action lawsuit over their fees. It is estimated that the banks could face a total payout of up to $A240m if they lose the case

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, FINANCIAL REDRESS PTY LTD, IMF BENTHAM LIMITED – ASX IMF, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD

Family violence ‘a form of terror’

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Original article by Nicola Berkovic
The Australian – Page: 3 : 23-Jan-15

Federal Circuit Court judge Joe Harman has awarded a mother the sole custody of her three children in a domestic violence case. Judge Harman likened the intimidating behaviour of the children’s father to a form of terrorism, and imposed a restraining order. Judge Harman also suggested that changes to Australia’s family law system may be needed to make it less adversarial

CORPORATES
FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA