Herbert Smith Freehills

A judge has criticised the Andrews government for withholding information about the alleged transmission of COVID-19 to a security guard working in hotel quarantine in a class action claiming lapses in the program caused Victorian businesses to suffer losses. 

Macquarie Leasing has been let off the hook in a class action alleging that a flex commissions scheme by ANZ’s former car finance business encouraged dealers to set car loan rates far in excess of base rates in exchange for large kickbacks.

Two law firms are set to work “hand in glove” in their proposed consolidated shareholder class actions against a2 Milk, with one senior barrister to be dropped as part of the “rationalisation” of the combined team.

Qantas has asked the High Court to reverse a judgment that found it violated the Fair Work Act by axing 1,800 ground staff partly to prevent them from bringing industrial action.

Settlement talks in a class action on behalf of women injured by allegedly defective pelvic mesh products have failed after Astora Health took a long-standing $27 million settlement offer off the table. 

Uber has appealed a ruling that found many of its email exchanges with its lawyers were made in furtherance of offences at the centre of a class action and were not protected by legal professional privilege.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia will bring its second bid to dismiss a case brought by customers who claim they were the victims of “cuckoo-smurfing” and had funds seized as proceeds of crime because the bank breached its anti-money laundering obligations.

A shareholder class action against Treasury Wine Estates has won access to information said to prove there were reduced wine sales in the United States, with a judge finding the wine producer’s redactions of board papers were “not justified”.

With the Australian Labor Party to form government after Saturday’s election defeat for the Coalition, class action lawyers are looking forward to reforms that expand access to justice, enshrine the court’s power to supervise costs and wind back Morrison-era legislation.

Shine Lawyers has beaten out class action rival Piper Alderman in a battle to lead a class action worth up to $463 million against collapsed wealth managers Dixon Advisory, with a judge finding the firm’s no win, no fee model was likely to result in a greater return to group members.