Alicia Lyons

The Federal Government will pay $212.5 million to settle three class actions over the use of allegedly toxic firefighting foam at government military bases.

The Federal Court judge overseeing three class actions against the Commonwealth of Australia over allegedly toxic firefighting foam has questioned the terms of the in-principle settlement reached last week, including whether the settlement amount should remain confidential. 

Westpac has criticised Shine Lawyers for allegedly turning a registration and opt out notice to class action members into a ‘sales pitch’ designed to book-build for the firm, saying the High Court’s recent common fund ruling forbade approval of anything designed to boost the commercial viability of a case.

The funder behind a class action against Westpac over allegedly excessive insurance premiums has confirmed that it will continue backing the case despite earlier concerns it may pull out in the wake of the High Court’s landmark ruling on common fund orders.

A class action against Westpac over allegedly excessive insurance premiums that was at the centre of a successful High Court challenge to common fund orders may back out of funding the case in the wake of the landmark ruling.

Group members in the Fitch Ratings class action have recovered almost 95 per cent of their losses in a $27 million settlement, which was narrowly approved after a judge scolded the parties for a lack of clarity around the mediation and opt-out process.

Parties in an ongoing four-and-a-half year long investor class action against Fitch Ratings have agreed to a second round of mediation after a prior attempt was adjourned without success.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia, facing cross-claims by credit ratings agency Fitch in a class action alleging it gave false or misleading double A and triple A ratings to synthetic CDOs backed by Sigma Financial, told investors Fitch’s withdrawal of Sigma’s credit rating prior to the collapse of the $27 billion investment fund was a “technical” issue, the bank has admitted.

An expert witness in an investor class action against Fitch Ratings over toxic financial products is no expert at all, the lead applicant told the court in contesting the admissibility of the expert’s evidence.