Four insurers have argued that class actions over alleged business interruption losses during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic should be de-classed, with one insurer saying group members cannot “go behind” a Full Court decision denying coverage for certain policyholders.
The High Court has rejected dam services provider Sunwater’s request that it weigh in on a dispute over insurance coverage for a $440 million class action settlement with victims of the 2010-2011 floods in Queensland.
A judge who will oversee an upcoming hearing for approval of a $20 million settlement in a class action against Optus contractor BSA has urged the parties to sever the funder’s commission and costs from the settlement to avoid delays in distribution to group members.
Shine Lawyers is seeking court permission to use a list of employees provided by collapsed telecommunications contractor Tandem in a stayed class action to assist group members with making claims and recovering losses in the company’s liquidation.
A $400 million class action brought by Shine Lawyers against a major Telstra and Foxtel contractor will be stayed after the company was placed into administration three months out from trial.
A judge has found that news articles published in the Herald Sun, Daily Mail and The Australian may have given group members in a class action against a Telstra contractor the “wrong impression” that they would be exposed to a cross-claim if they failed to opt out.
A judge has allowed a unit of recruitment firm Tandem to file cross-claims against individual group members in an underpayment class action, in a rare move that may spark important changes in representative proceedings.
A unit of telecommunications contractor Tandem has lost an appeal in its fight over the validity of a sham contracting class action by technicians alleging they were misclassified as contractors and wrongly denied benefits.
An upcoming legal battle over whether counterclaims can be brought against non-party group members in a class action against a unit of recruiter Tandem could hamper bookbuilding efforts by making class actions less attractive to group members, an expert has told Lawyerly.
The parties in a ‘sham’ contracting class action brought on behalf of telecommunications workers have both lost bids to recover interlocutory costs, with a judge noting that costs orders against funded litigants should be the exception rather than the rule in Fair Work litigation.