Commercial Disputes AU
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September 09, 2026
Andrew Clements KC Appointed To Victorian Supreme Court
Andrew Clements KC has been appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria sitting in the common law division, which hears matters concerning property, tort, contract law, wills and estates, and appeals from lower courts and tribunals, the court announced on Tuesday.
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September 09, 2026
Westpac Says KPMG Withheld Allens Reports Over Privilege
Westpac has revealed KPMG initially refused to provide Allens' investigation reports into the auditor's whistleblower scandal, citing legal professional privilege, before later handing over partially-redacted versions.
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September 09, 2026
Justice Muston Says Bar Has 'Stubborn' Diversity Problem
The Supreme Court of NSW Justice Edward Muston has advocated for the Australian legal profession, particularly the bar, to better represent the community it serves by giving opportunities across the board given limited diversity is "a particularly stubborn problem."
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September 08, 2026
Government Eyes $109M Fines For Addictive App Features
The Federal Government is proposing penalties of up to $109 million for online services including social media sites like Google's YouTube and Meta's Instagram that fail to protect children from addictive or harmful features, while also giving Australians a choice to opt in or out of social media algorithms.
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September 08, 2026
Meta Settles Sked App Maker Competition Case Mid-Trial
Instagram and its parent company Meta have reached a mid-trial settlement with app developer Dialogue Consulting, resolving a case accusing the social media giant of anti-competitively cutting off Dialogue's access to Meta's platforms, according to a Tuesday Federal Court filing.
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September 08, 2026
ASIC Bans Ex-Sequoia CEO Crole For 10 Years On Interprac
ASIC has banned former Sequoia Financial Group CEO Garry Crole from managing a financial services business for 10 years due to competence and diligence failures in his management of subsidiary Interprac which steered thousands of superannuation customers to invest roughly $677 million in collapsed Shield and First Guardian funds.
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September 08, 2026
Court Approves Warburg Pincus' $700M CreditorWatch Deal
A New South Wales Supreme Court judge has approved private equity giant Warburg Pincus' purchase of commercial credit and risk reporting services platform CreditorWatch, in a deal worth around $700 million.
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September 08, 2026
Justice Pike To Head NSW Supreme Court Class Actions
The Supreme Court of New South Wales said Justice Ian Pike has moved to the Commercial List and is now in charge of managing class actions across both the Equity and Common Law divisions, in one of five key administrative changes in effect from Monday.
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September 07, 2026
Corporate Travel, PwC Face Phi Finney McDonald-Led Suit
Phi Finney McDonald said it is "well advanced" in a class action proposal against Corporate Travel Management and it's former auditor PwC Australia for allegedly misleading investors in its financial reports after the company admitted to an overcharging scandal and it's shares sunk on return to the ASX this month.
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September 07, 2026
NSW Chief Justice Warns AI Could Widen Legal Access Gaps
NSW Chief Justice Andrew Bell said he fears there is a digital divide between large firms that can afford specialised AI and the rest of the legal sector unable to keep up with the pace of change.
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September 07, 2026
Lawyers, Funder Seek $21.7M Cut Of $29M AMP Advisers Deal
Shine Lawyers, Piper Alderman and litigation funder Woodsford are seeking up to $21.75 million from a proposed $29 million class action settlement against AMP-linked financial advisers who allegedly recommended AMP insurance products to customers over cheaper alternatives, potentially leaving class members with only a quarter share of the deal.
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September 07, 2026
Contradictor To Weigh Mayweathers, Omni Bridgeway Fees
A New South Wales Supreme Court judge has appointed a contradictor to weigh in on the split of a tentative $18 million settlement in a class action over homes damaged by land subsidence, after raising concerns about a large cut of the deal going to lawyers Mayweathers and litigation funder Omni Bridgeway.
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September 07, 2026
Ex-ASIC Deputy Kell To Review Banking Code And Watchdog
Former ASIC deputy chair Peter Kell will head an independent review into the banking code of practice and its oversight by the Banking Code compliance committee.
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September 04, 2026
ACCC Eyes Extension Of Qantas, American Airline Alliance
The ACCC said it is considering granting an extension of the alliance between Qantas and American Airlines on trans-Pacific routes in a draft determination on Friday.
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September 04, 2026
ASIC Probing Hundreds Of Big Four Internal Audit Complaints
ASIC is reviewing more than 550 internal complaints about audit work across the Big Four professional services firms, Chair Sarah Court told a parliamentary committee on Friday, and said it's expanding its probe into KPMG Australia around possible false or misleading information in its transparency reports.
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September 04, 2026
KPMG Denied Privileged Expert Docs In Arrium Class Action
The Victorian Supreme Court judge overseeing a shareholder class action alleging mining company Arrium Ltd issued misleading financial reports has rejected auditor KPMG's bid to access draft versions of a plaintiffs' expert report, saying the shareholders hadn't waived legal privilege over those drafts.
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September 04, 2026
Diversa Says Fraud Sank First Guardian, Gov. Should Repay
Diversa Trustees Chair Vincent Plant told a parliamentary committee on Friday that the fund trustee were "not clairvoyants" and could not have foreseen the alleged fraud behind the collapse of the First Guardian Master Fund, arguing it met its duties despite members' $240 million losses.
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September 04, 2026
ACCC Chair Says 80% Of Mergers Cleared in 20 Days
ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb says the competition regulator's new merger control regime has met and surpassed its goal of approving around 80 percent of mergers within 20 business days by early Phase 1 determinations or the notification waiver process, nine months after its implementation.
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September 03, 2026
ACCC Gives Final Approval To Epic Games, Google Settlement
The ACCC has given final approval to the settlement between Google and Epic Games in the competition lawsuit launched after Google kicked the Fortnite game from its Play Store after Epic launched its own app payment system.
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September 03, 2026
KPMG Sued By Sacked Ex-COO After Whistleblower Scandal
Eileen Hoggett, the sacked auditor at the centre of the KPMG whistleblower scandal, has filed legal proceedings against her former employer in a NSW Supreme Court on Thursday weeks after telling a parliamentary committee she was still trying to "understand the basis of my expulsion from the firm."
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September 03, 2026
Optus, Google, Meta Join AFCA Ahead of Scam Dispute Role
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has added over 100 new members including major telecommunications firms like Optus and digital platforms including Meta, TikTok and Google ahead of its expanded role handling scam disputes from March next year.
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September 03, 2026
Beacon Minerals Exec Sentenced For Tipping Friends on Gold Find
Beacon Minerals' former project manager Alexander McCulloch was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment for insider trading after he told two friends to buy 11 million Beacon Mineral shares while he had confidential information showing promising gold drilling results at a project.
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September 03, 2026
APRA Slaps ING With Licence Conditions on Liquidity Errors
ING Australia has been hit with additional licence conditions and a $50 million operational risk capital add-on from APRA due to "significant overstatement" in its liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) which the bank self-reported, the regulator said in a statement on Thursday.
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September 03, 2026
Banned Auditor Sentenced For Falsifying Reports By ASIC
A disqualified self-managed superannuation fund auditor has been sentenced to 60 hours of unpaid community service by the Melbourne Magistrates Court after he admitted to auditing funds and falsifying documents while prohibited by ASIC.
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September 02, 2026
Blue Sky Class Action Must Post $1.9M In Security, Use AI
A Federal Judge has ordered a class action led by R&B Investments to put up a $680,000 security to Blue Sky Alternative Investments and $1.28 million security to Ernst & Young for future and past legal costs in a suit alleging Blue Sky, its former directors and auditors EY overestimated its assets under management and investment performance, while also calling for AI use to simplify the dispute.