Insurance

A class action targeting Westpac subsidiary BT Funds Management and Tal Life Insurance is set to be discontinued less than a year after it was filed.

HFW has snagged two partners specialising in litigation and restructuring and insolvency from Johnson Winter Slattery, including the firm’s litigation practice group head.

A judge has granted broad discovery to a shareholder class action against IAG over COVID-related disclosures, saying the documents sought were relevant to determining the likelihood the insurer knew of the risk that it would have to pay out business interruption claims covered by polices that referenced defunct legislation.

A judge has made soft class closure orders in a shareholder class action against Medibank after the High Court has been asked to resolve a split on the issue by intermediate appellate courts.

A class action on behalf of 700 patients alleging assisted reproduction provider Monash IVF destroyed potentially viable embryos in a faulty genetic screening program has settled for $56 million.

The NSW appeals court has clarified the operation of the Uniform Law in the state, finding that insurers offering professional indemnity insurance to legal practitioners must be approved by the state’s Attorney General.

Several insurers have won a dispute with two Melbourne businesses about whether an industrial special risks policy can cover losses suffered during COVID-19 lockdowns, with a judge finding the policy did not respond just because there were recorded cases in Melbourne. 

Bond & Credit Company has lost its bid to bring a new claim in defence to $6 billion proceedings over the collapse of Greensill that alleged the financial services company failed to disclose its “moral hazard” behaviour of being dishonest with insurers.

A $13.5 million settlement has been reached in a Gadens-led class action against former Quintis director Frank Wilson, and the funder of a rival class action is preparing to seek a chunk of the sum in what a judge has called a “most unusual circumstance”.

Monash IVF and a host of IVF clinics have taken Insurance Australia Ltd to court over coverage ahead of mediation in a class action alleging the companies destroyed potentially viable embryos.