A trial set to start next week in a class action over Sydney’s $3 billion delayed light rail could be pushed off until next year as the parties clash over an eleventh hour bid by the applicant to amend the case.
The law firm that secured a $44.5 million settlement in a class action against Woolworths has won its full $14.5 million in costs, with a judge tossing the report of the referee he appointed to examine the fees, which he said appeared double what they should be.
Medical glove maker Ansell is facing a shareholder class action investigation over a January earnings downgrade that sent the company’s share price plummeting.
Luxury car makers BMW and Mercedes-Benz are facing separate $100 million class actions over the alleged use of cheat devices on emissions tests.
The public and political response to the Optus incident, including the federal government’s announcement of urgent privacy law reform, suggests there may now be an appetite to test obstacles to data breach class actions, or for the government to legislate around them, say Allens lawyers Kate Austin, Valeska Bloch, Isabelle Guyot and Andrew Burns.
Toyota Australia has been hit with a class action on behalf of up to half a million owners of diesel-powered vehicles which allegedly contain diesel ‘defeat devices’ that allowed the car manufacturer to cheat on emissions tests.
A group member in the historic Black Saturday bushfire class action has filed a lawsuit alleging Maurice Blackburn was negligent in failing to bring a lawsuit over his work-related adenocarcinoma within time.
A judge has questioned a class action firm’s claim that it and its counsel spent 180 hours and $63,000 in fees preparing pleadings in an underpayments class action against supermarket chain Drakes, saying the number of hours was not “reasonable”.
A law firm has lost its bid to appoint a costs referee after reaching a $5.8 million class action settlement with the On The Run convenience store chain, saying it was “hurtful” for a judge to suggest the firm wanted to “maximise its position” over group members.
Insurer QBE has settled a class action over ANZ’s sale of allegedly worthless add-on insurance, and the applicants are “hopeful” that the bank and two other named insurers will soon reach a deal to resolve the claims against them.