The lead applicants in seven class actions against auto manufacturers over explosive Takata airbags have criticised the courts for losing their way in ensuring justice is done, in a landmark challenge to class closure orders made in the cases.
Australian agricultural fund manager Rural Funds Group has won its legal action alleging US short seller Bonitas Research engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct when it described the group’s equity as “ultimately worthless” and sent its share price plummeting.
An Ashurst partner that argued a judge was “confused” when he decided to appoint liquidators to his luxury Point Piper home in a dispute with an ex-judge neighbour has lost his challenge to the ruling.
The applicants in a group of class actions over defective Takata airbags are pushing ahead with a challenge to the power of the NSW Supreme Court to issue class closure orders in the aftermath of a High Court decision shooting down common fund orders, a fight that could send the cases back to the High Court.
The judge overseeing a conflicted remuneration class action against Suncorp has allowed the class to bring an unconscionable conduct claim, but put the kibosh on the plaintiff’s use of the phrase ‘inter alia,’ saying “only I get to use Latin”.
A judge has consolidated competing shareholder class actions against builder Lendlease brought by rival plaintiffs law firms, but has rejected the firms’ bid to jointly run the litigation and says one of them must go.
Construction firm Icon Co has pressed the Federal Court for an expedited hearing in its case against insurers Liberty Mutual Insurance and QBE over the 2018 Opal Tower disaster, saying it wants to resolve the matter before a class action brought by apartment owners in building progresses too far.
Construction firm Icon Co has rejected QBE Underwriting’s argument that exclusion clauses in coverage for Sydney’s Opal Tower meant the insurer did not have to indemnity it after a series of major cracks in the building led to the evacuation of thousands of residents on Christmas Eve last year.
The judge overseeing seven class actions against some of the world’s largest car makers over defective Takata airbags has ordered that class closure take place in advance of mediation, saying it was “time…for commercial reality to bite”.
A partner at Big Six firm Ashurst has challenged a NSW Supreme Court decision appointing liquidators to his Point Piper home in a protracted dispute with an ex-judge neighbour, saying the judge was confused and made an order which was an “affront to our system of adversarial justice”.