The rejection of a $27 million settlement offer in a class action over American Medical Systems’ pelvic mesh products may be included in a proposed opt out notice, with a judge mulling whether to inform group members about a little used law which allows one lead applicant to take over from another.
A Federal Court judge overseeing two franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven has heard a landmark application for pre-trial oral discovery that could create another tool for lawyers to source evidence otherwise blocked by confidentiality agreements.
A judge will not let proceedings brought by ASIC against four former Linchpin Capital directors drag on, slamming a “vague” excuse from one of the directors, who awaits word from his insurers on whether his defence costs will be covered, that London is still in a state of “total confusion” due to COVID-19.
Two insurance brokers have dodged being dragged into class action proceedings against sandalwood producer Quintis to boost a settlement reached last year, as a fight over insurance owed to the company to cover the settlement continues.
Further attempts to settle a securities class action against last mile logistics software firm GetSwift would be like flogging a dead horse, a judge has heard as the matter works its way towards a final hearing.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia could be on the hook for a large penalty after the court found the bank engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and violated its financial services obligations on more than 12,000 occasions by overcharging customers more than $2.2 million in interest.
GetSwift has been criticised for its “quite unfair attack” on a Federal Court judge who refused to disqualify himself from hearing a shareholder class action against the logistics software company after presiding over ASIC’s civil penalty proceeding against the company.
A judge has raised the possibility of referring a class action against the Morrison government for allegedly contaminating Indigenous land with toxic firefighting foam to the Full Federal Court due to novel questions the case raises about whether damages can be recovered for cultural loss.
Proceedings launched by ASIC in December accusing the Commonwealth Bank of Australia of saddling consumers with $2.9 million in inflated interest rates on their business overdraft accounts on more than 12,000 occasions will move swiftly to a penalties hearing.
A barrister for a Sydney criminal lawyer who wears hearing aids and is suing News Corp’s Nationwide News over allegedly defamatory Daily Telegraph articles referring to his profound deafness has likened the stories to accusing bespectacled lawyers of being blind.