Applicants in class actions against Hyundai and Kia over alleged defective braking will pay the car manufacturers’ costs incurred for abandoned appeals, despite arguing the appeals were overtaken by subsequent events.
Mercedes-Benz has taken aim at an amended group definition in a class action over alleged defeat devices designed to cheat emissions testing, with a judge agreeing that it contains “ambiguities and circularities”.
A judge has said he is satisfied that GM’s concerns about a class action’s “circular” explanation of alleged design flaws in certain Holden vehicles are “not trivial”.
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 overseeing the settement approval process in a flex commissions class action against ANZ has issued a warning to third parties “seeking to profit” off group members, as a claim aggregator appears on the scene.
A Toyota flex commissions class action can’t retroactively join claims about alleged junk insurance made in a separate case to protect against a limitations defence, with a judge describing such applications as “prima facie vexatious”.
General Motors has defeated a class action by Australian car dealers over its decision to retire the Holden brand, with a judge finding the car maker did not breach its agreements.
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.
A class action against Toyota can serve the car maker’s Japanese parent company, in hopes of obtaining technical information about devices it claims were installed in vehicles to cheat emissions tests.
The Supreme Court of Victoria has been urged not to meddle with a 25 per cent group costs order in a junk insurance class action that settled for $170 million, in what would be the court’s second blessing of a law firm contingency fee.