Class action settlement sums reached new highs last year, with the ten largest agreements totalling almost $1 billion, almost half of which was secured by one plaintiff law firm.
Westpac has agreed to pay $29.95 million to settle a class action alleging subsidiaries BT Funds Management Limited and Westpac Life Insurance Services Limited charged customers excessive superannuation fees between 2007 and 2019.
A judge overseeing the Montara oil spill class action has found the Federal Court’s broad discretion under the class action regime is “outflanked” by the need to give group members a chance to opt out. But resolving that question on Thursday — which has divided the courts — caused a further wrinkle ahead of a hearing to weigh a settlement in the case.
In one of the year’s biggest class action settlements, PTTEP Australasia has agreed to pay $192.5 million to settle a representative action over a 2009 oil spill that affected 15,000 Indonesian seaweed farmers.
PTTEP Australasia has settled a class action over one of Australia’s largest oil spills, more than a year after a judge ruled that the oil exploration company breached its duty of care to 15,000 Indonesian seaweed farmers and damaged their livelihoods.
A class action against KPMG over the failure of six managed investment schemes for eucalyptus wood in Tasmania can’t add new claims against the accounting firm three months out from trial.
Two former executives of defunct electronics retailer Dick Smith have asked the High Court to hear their challenge to a $11.8 million damages award for approving a dividend payment the company could not afford.
A potentially stultifying order for $1.23 million in security for costs in a class action against the Hog’s Breath Cafe restaurant chain has survived a challenge by the franchisees.
An appeals court has found that two former executives of collapsed electronics retailer Dick Smith should pay the company’s receivers $11.8 million in damages for approving a dividend payment the company could not afford.
Fighting what they say is a stultifying $1.23 million order for security for defence costs in a class action, franchisees of Hog’s Breath Cafe have argued it is up to the restaurant chain to prove group members can pony up the dough.