Class action settlements hit major milestones last year, with the year’s largest settlements totalling more than $1.5 billion and one case resolving for a historic $548.5 million.
A judge has ordered Australian Unity to pay a $7.1 million penalty in ASIC proceedings alleging it pumped more than $9.5 million into a risky mortgage scheme without properly vetting investors.
A tribunal has refused to terminate a lease for a dairy farm in Raleigh, NSW and declined to order $500,000 in compensation over claims the tenants are responsible for deterioration in the property, including the “uncontrolled infestation” of a noxious weed.
A judge has allowed a shareholder class action over the collapse of asset manager Blue Sky to bring insider trading claims against several short sellers, as well as brokers Credit Suisse and Argonaut Securities.
A MWL financial adviser has been banned for seven years for advising clients to invest most of their super into Keystone’s Shield Master Fund, which is suspected of misusing $480 million in investor funds.
ASIC has questions about the “bona fides” of a rental company’s appeal of a $7.4 million penalty for unlawful loan agreements, telling a court it needs to see evidence about the “very rapid decline” of the company’s financial position.
A judge has ordered ANZ to pay $250 million in penalties in four cases by ASIC – $10 million more than the bank had agreed to pay – saying ANZ had “substantially deceived” the government by overstating bond trading volumes.
Macquarie Securities has agreed to pay a $35 million penalty in a civil suit brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission alleging systemic misreporting of short sales over a 14-year period.
A judge has expressed concerns about a funder’s novel application for its costs in a partially settled shareholder class action over the collapse of mining company Cudeco, saying everyone was getting a payday except group members.
A new class action targeting Grill’d alleges the burger chain wrongly denied thousands of workers the rest breaks they were entitled to under enterprise bargaining agreements.