Blue Sky settles lawsuit against former directors

Investment firm Blue Sky has settled a lawsuit involving the alleged illegal downloading of company data. The firm, currently in receivership, says proceedings against Blue Sky Water Partners, Pinnacle Investment Management Group, Riparian Capital Partners (RCP) and former Blue Sky employees have been resolved on confidential terms. T...

Onterran creditors approve deed of company arrangement

Following its failed attempt to transform the Couran Cove Island Resort on Stradbroke Island Onterran's (ASX: OTR) creditors have approved a deed of company arrangement (DOCA). At a second creditor's meeting yesterday the administrators of Onterran passed a resolution that the company should execute a DOCA. David Clout and Pat...

Uber comes out on top in Fair Work investigation

The results of an investigation conducted by the Fair Work Ombudsman is sure to have Uber smiling, with the watchdog confirming that Uber is not an "employer" in the traditional sense. The investigation was launched to determine whether Uber's Australian operations could be considered as that of an employer, the natural resu...

Australian Family Lawyers to make ASX debut this week

A backdoor listing of Australian Family Lawyers (ASX: AFL) has been approved by the stock exchange with trading expected to begin on Friday this week. Founded by Edward Finn in 2015, the law firm aims to disrupt the conventional wisdom of relationship-driven business development in the legal profession, instead opting for an approach...

ASIC charges former Octaviar CFO with fraud

Just two years after he was banned from managing a corporation and ordered to pay $205 million to aggrieved shareholders in a failed fund, former Octaviar CFO David Anderson has been charged with 26 counts of fraud. As a publicly listed company with interests in the financial services, travel, leisure and childcare sectors, Gold Coas...

Class action to be brought against Suncorp Super

William Roberts Lawyers and Litigation Capital Management (LCM) have partnered up to bring a class action against Suncorp Group's super funds trustee. The proposed class action will be brought on behalf of members of Suncorp Super Funds to recover compensation for those whose accounts were impacted by charges used to pay conflicted re...

Shine settles class action brought against it by shareholders

No win no fee law firm Shine Corporate (ASX: SHJ) has settled a class action brought against it by shareholders back in 2017. The class action was launched by aggrieved shareholders after the firm's shares plummeted 73 per cent following a 10-day suspension from trade in 2016. Shareholders alleged that Shine misled investors in a ...

GetSwift shares back on deck after trading lockdown

A clarification has seen GetSwift shares fall back down to earth by more than 10 per cent in afternoon trading.  Shares in GetSwift (ASX: GSW) are trading once more after the logistics group responded to ASX concerns over an undisclosed partnership with a Kuwaiti fast food company. Trading was suspended for the embattled tec...

Blue Sky Alternatives Access Fund secures control of bank account

Listed spinoff of Blue Sky Alternative Investments (ASX: BLA) the Alternatives Access Fund (ASX: BAF) has confirmed it is solvent and now separate from its parent as BLA falls into receivership. Last week, the directors of BAF took steps to secure control of the bank account holding in excess of $29 million by placing a stop on the accoun...

Blue Sky's Alternative Access Fund cuts supply to mothership

Last week, embattled investment fund Blue Sky (ASX: BLA) announced it was not going to meet the terms of a $50 million loan from US-based Oaktree Capital Management. A heavy-handed approach has been the response from the company's Alternative Access Fund (ASX: BAF), which has opted to cut supply to its parent while it considers t...

IPO pushed back for Australian Family Lawyers

Offers for a backdoor listing of Melbourne-headquartered Australian Family Lawyers (AFL) have been extended by almost a month while the company undertakes discussions with the ASX. A reverse takeover of Navigator Resources (ASX: NAV) was approved by shareholders in April with expectations the IPO would raise $6.5 million by the time ...

TPG and Vodafone to file legal action against ACCC

Following the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's ('ACCC') decision to oppose the $15 billion merger between Vodafone (ASX: HTA) and TPG (ASX: TPM) both telcos have committed to taking on the watchdog in court. In an ASX statement late yesterday afternoon TPG says that it intends on challenging the watchdog's ...

ACCC opposes Vodafone and TPG merger

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ('ACCC') has announced that it will block the merger between telecommunications giants TPG Telecom (ASX: TPM) and Vodafone (ASX: HTA), saying the merger would lessen competition.  The consumer watchdog inadvertently published a statement online this afternoon stating that the...

Retail Food Group backflips on use-by date extensions

Following an exposé by The Sydney Morning Herald the parent company behind Michel's Patisserie has backflipped on its internal decision to extend use-by dates on food products. As reported by The SMH Retail Food Group (ASX: RFG) instructed Michel's franchisees to ignore expiry dates on packaging and adopt new shelf-life dat...

Financial impact of LandMark White cyber attack revealed

The data beach of listed property valuation group LandMark White has hurt the company's revenue by up to $7 million. The company has revealed today the full extent of the breach on the group's bottom line, plus the significant cost of making sure this type of cyber-attack does not happen again. The company says the breach, whi...

Taxi drivers take on Uber in large scale class action

It might be the biggest class action Australia has ever seen as Maurice Blackburn gears up to take on ride-sharing giant Uber. The law firm is acting on behalf of thousands of taxi, hire car, charger vehicle, and limousine drivers across the country to "hold Uber accountable for destroying their livelihoods". The case has be...

How to protect your business from the threat of e-fraud

Cash flow is the life blood of any business, but managing it can be difficult. According to Westpac and Deloitte, small businesses in Australia are spending up to one working day every week chasing invoices that's a lot of time. During that tunnel-vision slog, where business owners become buried headfirst in processes and manageme...

Australian businesses lose $7.2 million from email scams in 2018

Email scams hit Australian businesses more than 5800 times in 2018, with losses exceeding $7.2 million according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ('ACCC'). The ACCC's Targeting Scams report details how sophisticated email scams hit Australian businesses at a 53 per cent increase compared to 2017. This ...

Smiles Inclusive takes founder Mike Timoney to court

Divided dental company Smiles Inclusive (ASX: SIL) has commenced legal proceedings against beleaguered founder Mike Timoney (pictured) alleging serious misconduct and breaches of the law. The action follows the substantial completion of an interim investigation into the conduct of the ousted former CEO who remains on the board along with ...

ACCC takes Bupa to court for allegedly rorting elderly residents of thousands of dollars

Bupa has come under fire from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for allegedly charging elderly residents thousands of dollars for services they never provided. The ACCC says Bupa Aged Care Australia made false or misleading representations to its aged care residents in 21 homes about services it did not provide or ...

ACCC takes iSelect to court over its allegedly misleading comparison tool

Comparison service iSelect has wound up in court after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleged that its energy plan comparison service was misleading. The watchdog alleges that since November 2016 iSelect has claimed consumers using its website would benefit from iSelect comparing all plans available from its par...

Zuckerberg calls for more regulation over the Internet

Facebook has clearly grown bigger than founder Mark Zuckerberg ever imagined. In just a few short years he's gone from Silicon Valley darling to the scapegoat for the world's ills. He copped the brunt of the blame for Brexit and Trump, and more recently has received a fair share of criticism for Facebook's handling of the ...

ACCC gives IPH acquisition of Xenith the green light

The likelihood of an intellectual property giant materialising in Australia is edging closer after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) delivered its blessing. Though shareholders have the option of choosing who IP firm Xenith will partner up with, the ACCC has said that it will not oppose IPH Limited's proposed a...

Slater & Gordon slated over "We win cases like yours"

Eaglegate Lawyers principal Nicole Murdoch has no objection to one of two recent trademark applications Slater & Gordon (ASX: SGH) has made with IP Australia. The mark reads "Slater + Gordon. We win cases like yours", and that's fair enough according to Murdoch. After all, it would make no sense for any law firm to ...

Xenith rebuffs IPH takeover bid

The board of intellectual property company Xenith (ASX: XIP) is not impressed by a 9 per cent lift in IPH's (ASX: IPH) takeover offer, and will press on with another merger in the works.  In an announcement today the group concluded IPH had not presented a superior offer to the merger deal underway with QANTM Intel...

Red Bubble off the hook in Hells Angels copyright case

A website that allows independent artists to sell print on demand (POD) designs online has avoided hefty damages after the Federal Court of Australia ruled in its favour in a copyright case brought by Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. The bikie gang was suing Melbourne-based Redbubble (ASX: RBL) for publishing Hells Angels tradema...

Class action looms for IOOF

While Australia's prudential watchdog takes action against IOOF (ASX: IFL) directors and executives over alleged misconduct, the wealth manager is about to face another legal battle. Sydney-based law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan announced today it planned to file a class action against IOOF, arising from evidence given a...

IPH threatens QANTM-Xenith merger with counterbid

Intellectual property company IPH (ASX: IPH) is upping the ante in its courtship of Xenith (ASX: XIP), putting in a higher takeover bid it claims will bring greater value than a merger in the works with QANTM Intellectual Property (ASX: QIP). Xenith knocked back IPH's $1.80 per share offer in November, opting instead for an all-scrip ...

Clayton Utz, AMP cave in to ASIC's 'fees for no service' notes demand

After months of withholding notes from interviews of current and former AMP representatives, law firm Clayton Utz has finally coughed up documents requested by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The notes formed the basis for Clayton Utz's October 2017 report on on fees for no service (FFNS) that was consider...

ASIC swoops on GetSwift with civil proceedings

GetSwift (ASX: GSW) and its directors Bane Hunter and Joel Macdonald are once again in the firing line. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has today launched civil proceedings against GetSwift in the Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne. The proceedings relate to a series of ASX announcements made by GetSwif...