Lander & Rogers

The construction company behind Sydney’s Opal Tower has filed a cross claim seeking $30 million from structural architect WSP Structures over its allegedly faulty building design.

Construction firm Icon Co has pressed the Federal Court for an expedited hearing in its case against insurers Liberty Mutual Insurance and QBE over the 2018 Opal Tower disaster, saying it wants to resolve the matter before a class action brought by apartment owners in building progresses too far.

Construction firm Icon Co has rejected QBE Underwriting’s argument that exclusion clauses in coverage for Sydney’s Opal Tower meant the insurer did not have to indemnity it after a series of major cracks in the building led to the evacuation of thousands of residents on Christmas Eve last year.

QBE Underwriting has defended its decision to deny insurance coverage to the builder of Sydney’s troubled Opal Tower development, claiming the cracking was not “major” and did not cause last year’s Christmas Eve evacuation.

After being flooded with phone calls by class members wanting a share of a recent $16.4 million settlement with Cash Converters, law firm Maurice Blackburn will implement an automated message system to handle queries from 164,000 group members in the settled class action against Radio Rentals.

Thorn Group is seeking to raise $38.7 million to cover its share of a $29 million settlement in a consumer class action alleging its Radio Rentals unit pushed misleading ‘Rent, Try, $1 Buy’ leases onto vulnerable customers.

The $29 million settlement in the Radio Rentals ‘Rent, Try, $1 Buy’ class action is back on track after concerns by former CEO James Marshall about uncertainty in the deed of settlement were resolved.

Radio Rentals and its insurer, AIG, have reached a $29 million settlement in a consumer class action alleging the company pushed misleading ‘Rent, Try, $1 Buy’ leases onto vulnerable customers.

A consumer class action against Radio Rentals over its ‘Rent, Try, $1 Buy’ scheme is “very close” to settling, a court heard Monday, with just a few more days required to negotiate a final agreement.

The NSW Supreme Court has ordered the lead plaintiff in a class action over the Sydney light rail construction project to pay $1.25 million in security for costs to Transport for NSW ahead of discovery, which is expected to cost $2.26 million.