Wayne Muddle

A judge has found the lead applicant in a class action over an allegedly defective crop sprayer did not suffer any loss despite finding agricultural equipment manufacturer Hardi misled him and other farmers who bought the machine. 

The judge who last month approved a $29 million settlement in a consumer class action against Radio Rentals has held that courts have power to order part of a settlement sum to go to charitable causes where distributing the funds to group members is too hard or impossible.

Companies and other defendants forked over big sums last year to settle more than 20 class actions, with a total of at least $734 million being paid out. Here are the top 10 class action settlements and the law firms and funders that negotiated them. 

A judge has given his seal of approval to a $29 million settlement that resolves a class action over Radio Rentals’ Rent, Try, $1 Buy scheme alleging customers were kept in the dark about the true cost of their rentals.

National car repair franchise Ultra Tune is preparing negligence suits against its former lawyers and auditors, after the company on Friday won a $590,000 reduction in a $2.6 million penalty for breaches of the Franchising Code of Conduct.

The $29 million settlement in the Radio Rentals ‘Rent, Try, $1 Buy’ class action is back on track after concerns by former CEO James Marshall about uncertainty in the deed of settlement were resolved.

Radio Rentals and its insurer, AIG, have reached a $29 million settlement in a consumer class action alleging the company pushed misleading ‘Rent, Try, $1 Buy’ leases onto vulnerable customers.

A consumer class action against Radio Rentals over its ‘Rent, Try, $1 Buy’ scheme is “very close” to settling, a court heard Monday, with just a few more days required to negotiate a final agreement.

The applicants in the Radio Rentals “Rent, Try $1 Buy” class action have flagged the potential for prejudice caused by the respondents’ late evidence, with concerns about their capacity to be ready by the looming trial date if ongoing settlement negotiations hit a dead-end.

National car repair franchise Ultra Tune has argued in a Full Federal Court appeal that a $1.07 million penalty in an ACCC case was “manifestly excessive” because it was based on unintentional breaches of the Franchising Code of Conduct that were caused by tardy accountants and auditors.