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.
A $1.5 million class action settlement against failed logistics provider GetSwift, which a judge termed a “disaster”, has been revised down to $1 million and may face a liquidators’ challenge that could see a group members recover nothing.
Westpac has lost a bid to keep group members in the dark about the premiums paid for allegedly worthless consumer credit insurance, information the bank said could inflate expectations about settlements worth $126 million reached in three class actions.
Westpac has objected to several proposed notices going out to group members in a class action over ājunkā consumer credit insurance, which three of the Big Four banks have agreed to pay $126 million to settle.
Liquidators of failed tech company GetSwift have foreshadowed an objection to a $1.5 million settlement going to shareholders in a class action that a judge has labelled a ādisaster”.
The High Court has turned down the appeal of the former Blue Star Helium CEO who was hit with a $40,000 penalty and four-year ban after the company failed to disclose to shareholders the identity of the buyer behind a botched sale of Texas oil assets.
A judge has hit Optus, Telstra, and TPG with a total of $33.5 million in penalties for misleading thousands of NBN customers into paying for internet speeds that could not be achieved.
Telstra has agreed to pay a $15 million penalty for misleading thousands of NBN customers about internet plan speeds, a sum which will bring the telcoās bill for consumer law violations since 2018 up to $75 million, if approved.
Optus has agreed to pay a $13.5 million penalty for misleading thousands of NBN customers into paying for internet plan speeds that could not be achieved, the telco’s third penalty in four years over misleading representations made in relation to its NBN services.
Insurer QBE has settled a class action over ANZ’s sale of allegedly worthless add-on insurance, and the applicants are āhopefulā that the bank and two other named insurers will soon reach a deal to resolve the claims against them.