Lachlan Armstrong

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.

With its new business model of self-funding class actions, Maurice Blackburn can’t get by with an undertaking to indemnify Macquarie for its costs if a case over flex commissions fails.

A class action against McDonald’s alleging workers were not given mandatory rest breaks has “gone backwards” after the fast food giant withdrew previously agreed facts, a court has heard. 

Fast food giant KFC has argued an initial trial in an underpayments class action could result in an “entirely hypothetical” finding unless it also deals with the claims of several sample group members. 

A New Zealand appeals court has ruled that common fund orders can be made in class actions, even at the early stages, departing from the High Court of Australia in finding the commercial viability of a proceeding enhances access to justice. 

A judge has granted leave to law firm Levitt Robinson to challenge a ruling cutting $1.14 million of its fees from a settled class action against retirement home operator Aveo, finding the appeal was sufficiently arguable.

Seeking leave to challenge a decision that shaved $1.14 million from its costs in running a class action against Aveo, Levitt Robinson has argued the firm would have enjoyed a right of appeal if it had been joined to the case as it ought to have been.

Group members enjoy broader protection against the running of limitation periods than lead plaintiffs in class actions, an appeals court has said in finding that commercial fishing operators heading a class action against Gladstone Ports could not bring new claims out of time. 

A judge has signed off on a $16 million settlement in a class action against Dixon Advisory, but the funder of a competing case that was stayed after losing a beauty parade has earned a fragment of the $1 million it sought from the resolution sum.

A funder that bankrolled a class action that was stayed against Dixon Advisory has argued it should receive $969,000 from a $16 million settlement reached in the competing proceedings that went ahead, saying its costs were spent to protect group members’ interests.