Jet builder Bombardier has lost its appeal of a ruling by the Western Australia Supreme Court that it has jurisdiction to hear a multimillion dollar case brought by the company of WA billionaire Tim Roberts over the sale of aircraft to wealthy Australians.
National Australia Bank will be hit this year with an estimated $750 million in fines stemming from its fees for no service conduct and potential breaches of money laundering laws, analysts have predicted.
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.
Litigation funder IMF Bentham has thrown in the towel in a battle over its cut of a $42 million settlement in a class action against dairy cooperative Murray Goulburn, accepting the Federal Court’s proposed 25 per cent commission rate after initially seeking 32 per cent.
Common fund orders in federal class actions could live to see another day, the Federal Court has indicated in new guidance to be released Friday, which swiftly responds to a recent judgment by the High Court that appeared to spell their doom.
A beauty contest to lead a class action against Monsanto over its allegedly cancer-causing weedkiller Roundup could be on foot, with the US chemical giant now facing one class action in the Federal Court and another in the Victorian Supreme Court.
A judge overseeing a consolidated class action against four AMP subsidiaries and two trustees over allegedly excessive superannuation fees has ordered the respondents to coordinate after the lead applicants raised concerns about duplication of work.
A Federal Court judge has signed off on an $18 million settlement in a shareholder class action against UGL over its Ichthys power plant disclosures under which $8 million will be distributed to shareholders.
The applicants in a group of class actions over defective Takata airbags are pushing ahead with a challenge to the power of the NSW Supreme Court to issue class closure orders in the aftermath of a High Court decision shooting down common fund orders, a fight that could send the cases back to the High Court.
A magistrate has dismissed a bid to expand the cross examination of a JPMorgan witness in the closely watched criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement, calling it a “back door” attempt to bypass a prior court ruling.