Insurance

Approving a settlement between insurers and group members in an investor class action against lender Axsesstoday, a judge has aired his frustration with expansive confidentiality provisions and deeds that “misapprehend the nature of the court’s role” in dealing with group members’ claims. 

The chair of the Medibank board has given evidence that he engaged King & Wood Mallesons to commission expert reviews in the wake of a cyberattack, including three reports by Deloitte, after hearing rumours of class action investigations in October 2022. 

Four insurers have agreed to fork over $1 million to settle an investor class action against lender Axsesstoday over an allegedly misleading prospectus for a bond offering, while claims against PricewaterhouseCoopers will move forward.

A class action against failed asset finance lender Axsesstoday and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers has reached an in-principle settlement with the lender’s insurers.

The lead plaintiff in a four-year-old class action against Zurich Insurance over a defective New Zealand apartment block has said the case “has to get moving”, telling the court that property owners have not received payment since a $50 million judgment was awarded overseas in 2017.

Insurer Lloyd’s in not on the hook for losses arising from a cancelled 2019 music festival, with a judge finding the Black Summer bushfires did not render cancellation necessary as was required for coverage under the relevant insurance policy.

The corporate regulator is appealing a judgment that tossed its landmark action against Austo & General Insurance, saying the judge erred in construing an unclear and disproportionate term in the insurer’s house and contents policy.

Westpac subsidiary BT Funds Management and Tal Life Insurance have foreshadowed applications to strike out the pleadings of a class action alleging superannuation customers were overcharged for insurance coverage. 

A judge has dismissed the corporate regulator’s first-ever case over unfair insurance contracts terms, finding it was not unfair for an insurer to require customers to notify it if anything changed about their home or its contents.

Mortgage broker Lendi Group and insurer ALI Group face a class action over the sale of allegedly worthless mortgage insurance policies to homeowners.