On Tuesday, the Federal Court of Australia ordered BlueScope Steel Limited to pay the highest ever civil penalty for cartel conduct in Australian history. Justice O’Bryan ordered BlueScope to pay a pecuniary penalty of $57.5m in respect of nine attempts to induce competitors to fix the price of steel. Jason Ellis, a former BlueScope executive, was ordered to pay a separate pecuniary penalty of $575,000 for the same conduct.
The penalty judgment can be found here: https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca1029, while the original judgment on liability is accessible here: https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2022/2022fca1475
The ACCC was successfully represented in the proceedings by Michael Hodge KC and Shipra Chordia of New Chambers, along with Jonathan Clark and Sarah Andrews.
