David Thomas

ASIC has won its case against insurer HCF Life over a pre-existing condition term that was likely to mislead the public, but failed to convince the court that it was an unfair contract term. 

A class action targeting Westpac subsidiary BT Funds and Tal Life Insurance was discontinued after documents discovered by the companies caused funder Woodsford to bow out.

A ‘junk’ insurance class action against Suncorp unit AAI wants an initial trial to deal with the claim — absent a sample group member — that car dealers made purchasing a policy necessary for a loan.

A class action targeting Westpac subsidiary BT Funds Management and Tal Life Insurance is set to be discontinued less than a year after it was filed.

A judge has criticised the pleadings in class actions against ANZ, Macquarie and Westpac over flexible commission schemes for car dealers, saying they were “inappropriate and unhelpful” in referring to documents in the banking royal commission. 

A judge has questioned the “independent skill and judgment” applied to the pleading in a third class action filed against International Capital Markets over risky derivative products, amid a “hot contest as to carriage and forum”.

 Macquarie Bank has agreed to pay a $10 million fine in proceedings brought ASIC after the bank admitted that it failed to monitor third-party withdrawals, resulting in a financial adviser’s theft of $2.9 million.

The High Court has agreed to hear a case with implications for law firms that represent themselves in litigation, granting an appeal application by media mogul Bruce Gordon, a former client of Sydney firm Atanaskovic Hartnell.

A judge hearing Bruce Lehrmann’s reopened defamation trial has expressed concern about evidence regarding non-parties to the lawsuit, including a solicitor who is said to have acted for Seven, saying “allegations are being thrown around like a gatling gun”.  

A former Seven producer has given fresh evidence in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial that he was alarmed when the accused rapist purchased cocaine and sex workers and agreed to give an interview to Spotlight as long as he was not asked about the night at the centre of the allegations.