There is a “reasonable chance” that two shareholder class actions against failed electronics retailer Dick Smith will settle by February of next year, group members have learned.
The end of the common fund order is a setback for class actions that will see a revival of the days of closed proceedings, costly bookbuilding, higher commission rates and the shelving of worthy but risky cases, experts say, and all eyes will now turn to state and federal governments to see how they respond to calls for legislative intervention.
A judge on Tuesday questioned how elderly group members struggling with the digital age can register in a ‘junk’ insurance class action against National Australia Bank, amid the postponement of hearing to approve the $49.5 million settlement reached in the case.
Funder IMF Bentham expects to bring in up to $130 million in income for backing the Queensland floods class action, after a judge ruled last week that the operator of two dams as well as the state government were responsible for the severity of the flooding that hit Southeast Queensland in 2011.
A Federal Court judge has slapped Optus with a $6.4 million penalty for sending a misleading email to 138,988 mobile customers informing them their broadband service would be disconnected soon, just two days after the telecommunications giant copped a $1.5 million penalty for similar conduct.
The NSW Supreme Court has ruled against the operators of two Queensland dams as well as the state government, finding they were vicariously liable for the negligence of flood engineers in the 2011 Southeast Queensland floods that destroyed over 2,000 homes.
Eight years after floods in Southeast Queensland destroyed more than 2,000 homes, a judge will deliver his ruling in two class actions seeking a record $1 billion in damages, and the decision could well come down to which of two conflicting flood modeling reports the judge sides with.
Accounting giant Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu will not face cross claims over the collapse of failed retailer Dick Smith when a hearing of three shareholder class actions kicks off in three months.
The National Australia Bank and insurer MLC have agreed to pay $49.5 million to settle a class action over allegedly worthless credit card insurance.
Google has slammed landmark regulatory action brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission over the collection and use of location data on Android devices as “cherry-picked”, saying the watchdog had read alleged misstatements by the tech giant out of context.