A law firm fighting for carriage of class actions against Hyundai and Kia has argued competing proceedings with a lower funding rate should not have a leg up, saying the rival firm’s budget was a “fantasy”.
General Motors has moved to strike-out a class action over allegedly faulty transmission systems in Holden cars, arguing the plaintiff needs to plead the alleged design flaw with specificity, not just by reference to symptoms.
The judge overseeing two competing class actions against Google has issued a warning to law firms that agree to team up and work on a class action together, saying that in other markets such arrangements might be viewed as “something akin to a cartel”.
The judge hearing the ACCC’s price-fixing case against Downer EDI’s Spotless and Ventia has proposed an initial hearing to determine if the companies are in competition, saying he won’t let the case become “totally unwieldy”.
In the ACCC’s price-fixing case, infrastructure services company Ventia has joined with Spotless in arguing the companies were not in competition, and says it was the Department of Defence that arranged for the providers to talk.
A $59 million settlement has been reached in a long-running class action accusing five major banks of foreign exchange rate-rigging.
Downer EDI subsidiary Spotless has rejected allegations it engaged in price-fixing with Ventia on defence contracts, saying the facilities services companies were not in competition with each other.
Applicants in class actions against Hyundai and Kia have complained they are being left in the dark about whether a competing set of cases will amend their pleadings ahead of next month’s law firm carriage fight.
Class actions against Hyundai and Kia over alleged defective anti-lock braking systems could expand “dramatically”, a court has heard, as a contest over competing cases ticks over into a second year.
A judge has accepted Mitsubishi’s argument that an investigation into the fuel consumption of its Triton cars is protected by litigation privilege and should not be handed over to a class action.