Dion Fahey

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia knew about a “catastrophic” code error that caused widespread non-compliance with money laundering rules two years before it was disclosed to the market, a court has been told in a rare shareholder class action trial.

The applicants in a consumer class action against Allianz have been ordered to produce an insurance policy that covers them for the risk of losing the case, which the insurer says will inform its bid for security for costs.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia faces trial Monday in one of several class actions filed against a major Australian company in recent years over allegedly lax money laundering practices and disclosures.

A judge has approved a $41 million settlement in a shareholder class action against Pitcher Partners but has reduced the funder’s cut to $11.5 million after resolving a feud with the lead applicant over how much it should receive for taking the case to trial.

Westpac has criticized the lead applicant in a class action filed in the wake of AUSTRAC proceedings for the “disorderly” conduct of the lagging proceedings, with discovery yet to be finalized as the case nears its third anniversary.

Following a three-week trial, Pitcher Partners has agreed to pay $41 million to settle a shareholder class action alleging the firm, along with Ernst & Young, approved an overly rosy year-end financial report related to Slater & Gordon’s disastrous $1.2 billion acquisition of UK business Quindell.

A judge has blasted Domino’s for its obstructionism in an underpayments class action and promised to order the pizza franchise giant to hand over information on its stores to facilitate settlement.

Westpac and the lead applicant in a class action filed in the wake of AUSTRAC proceedings are still battling it out over discovery of evidence three years into the case. And the applicant claims the bank’s discovery protocol fails the new test set by the Full Federal Court earlier this year.

Shareholders in a class action against Arrium and KPMG are fighting an $8 million security for costs order sought by former directors of the failed steel giant, who say they should not be forced to defend the case “on a shoestring.”

A judge has pulled up three legal teams over slow progress in a class action against Allianz over add-on car insurance, saying lawyers’ correspondence to the court may force her to “micromanage” the proceeding.