The hearing for a class action against National Australia Bank over allegedly worthless credit card insurance will focus on whether the bank’s allegedly unconscionable behaviour in selling these policies was systemic or confined to individual cases.
A judge has given the thumbs up to AMP’s new program to identify and compensate victims of so-called insurance churning by its financial planning arm after inadequacies were revealed in the original scheme.
The judge overseeing the Ethicon pelvic mesh class action has flagged serious public policy concerns stemming from class identification problems, amid fears that “poorer” patients in the public health system would be less likely to be notified of their rights compared to those in the private system.
Three syndicates of Lloyd’s London have failed in their bid to toss a case brought by National Australia Bank seeking £357 million ($655 million) in insurance claims relating to two consumer redress schemes in the UK.
The Queensland law firm at the centre of a class action over legal fees wants the case thrown out as an abuse of process, after it was revealed that the lead plaintiff apparently sold her litigation rights to a litigation funder, whose sole director is married to the solicitor who filed the action.
Expect increasing emphasis by judges on how much class action members will pocket, as scrutiny of settlements in representative proceedings continues to ramp up, says King & Wood Mallesons in the law firm’s latest class action report.
The judge overseeing multiple class actions against Volkswagen over its dieselgate emissions scandal has said he will “need persuading” before reallocating the settlement approval to a different judge, because “that’s something that happens in Victoria”.
A Federal Court judge has dismissed an application by GetSwift to delay the hearing of a shareholder class action against it, despite arguments that a judge would need to be “superhuman” to hear the trial immediately after a civil penalty hearing brought by ASIC against the logistics company.
A Federal Court judge has expressed disbelief that hundreds of lawsuits are being pursued over allegedly defective pelvic mesh, saying he was “absolutely flummoxed” as to why the law firm leading them hadn’t considered filing a class action.
The plaintiffs in one of two shareholder class actions brought against troubled sandalwood producer Quintis have complained about potential delays that could result from the “overly complicated loss theory” being advanced in a parallel class action.