David's Expertise

• Competition & Regulatory
  • Competition/Antitrust Advice & Compliance
  • Consumer Protection
  • Merger Clearance
• Litigation & Dispute Resolution

• ACCC - allergy matters Acted for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) against nine respondents who made false and misleading claims about their purported ability to holistically diagnose and cure allergies. Obtained judgment from the Federal Court of Australia against all respondents, including awards of pecuniary penalties and costs.
• ACCC - Yellow Pages Advertising Acted for the ACCC against two overseas companies who sent misleading faxes and invoices to Australian businesses in a “yellow page” directory scam. Obtained judgment from the Federal Court of Australia against both companies, including an award of pecuniary penalties in the amount of $2.7 million – at the time the highest civil pecuniary penalty awarded under the Australian Consumer Law.
• Visa vs. First Data Corporation Acted for First Data Corporation, the world’s largest electronic payment processor, in a lawsuit filed by Visa relating to the processing of credit and debit card transactions. Obtained summary adjudication on all of Visa’s claims, then pursued competition law counterclaims against Visa resulting in a settlement in favour of First Data.
• Google advertising practices Won a defence verdict at trial on behalf of Google in a consumer class action alleging that the company violated consumer protection laws and aided and abetted criminal activity through its online advertising policies and practices.
• Granger vs. Amerco Won a defence verdict at trial on behalf of Amerco in a class action seeking millions of dollars for alleged violations of consumer protection laws relating to its collection of late fees from clients.
• The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company franchising practices Acted for Goodyear in a class action filed by its dealers alleging unfair trade practices and violations of franchise law. Obtained court dismissal of all substantive claims, resulting in an immediate class settlement.
• Facebook spam Obtained a $711 million civil judgment and orders for injunctive relief on behalf of Facebook against Sanford Wallace, the infamous "King of Spam". Wallace was subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States for having contravened the court’s orders. He surrendered to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and now faces criminal charges.
• Credit Suisse financial advisory services Defended Credit Suisse in a U.S. Federal Court proceeding seeking $1.8 billion in damages relating to financial advisory services. Obtained judgment in favour of Credit Suisse on all claims through a series of motions to dismiss, and successfully defended the judgment before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Oil refinery, terminal and service station acquisitions Represented Tesoro Petroleum Corporation before the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), successfully obtaining clearance of a $2 billion acquisition of an oil refinery, terminal, and service stations from Shell Oil Company. Separately obtained clearance from the FTC of Tesoro’s acquisition of over 140 petroleum service stations from a competitor.
• Global competition law advice and coordination Provided competition law advice to an ASX-listed industrial manufacturer in relation to a major acquisition contemplated overseas. Also acted as the global coordinator for all competition law matters relating to the acquisition, supervising lawyers from Australia, North America and the European Union.