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Embattled banking giant Westpac may be seeking to limit its potential liability in any shareholder class actions it may face in the wake of AUSTRAC's lawsuit alleging 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, with the bank offering to refund some of those that purchased shares as part of a $2.5 billion capital raising.
Plaintiffs lawyers running class actions in Victoria will be free to charge contingency fees under new legislation introduced by the Labor government this week, a move that will see a boost in class actions brought in the state and has prompted calls for the Federal Government to follow suit.
The funders behind two shareholder class actions against online fashion retailer Surfstitch Group will seek a commission of up to 30 per cent while the law firms that brought the cases will ask for approval of up to $6 million in legal fees during an upcoming settlement approval hearing, which also puts the fate of a deed of company arrangement that saved the company from liquidation on the line.
Eight years after floods in Southeast Queensland destroyed more than 2,000 homes, a judge will deliver his ruling in two class actions seeking a record $1 billion in damages, and the decision could well come down to which of two conflicting flood modeling reports the judge sides with.
Accounting giant Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu will not face cross claims over the collapse of failed retailer Dick Smith when a hearing of three shareholder class actions kicks off in three months.
The litigation funder financing the second of two recently settled shareholder class actions against Murray Goulburn will face similar scrutiny over its commission as the funder behind the first action.
Infant food maker Bellamy's has agreed to pay $49.7 million to settle two shareholder class actions alleging the company misled investors in 2016 about its China growth strategy and declining infant formula market share in Australia.
Two Westpac units have defended their choice to charge higher superannuation fees, saying in their responses to a Slater and Gordon class action that customers received numerous positive benefits in exchange for the charges.
A hearing for approval of a $190 million settlement in a historic class action over unpaid wages to thousands of Indigenous workers has been adjourned to next month after a judge appointed a referee to scrutinise the fees charged by the law firm behind the case.
The judge overseeing a class action against car maker Ford over its allegedly defective PowerShift transmission has shot down the applicant's request for additional discovery, saying that after multiple delays in the case "the well has run dry".