Westpac has been hit with a class action over a “shonky” car loan scheme, in what is the first class to be filed in Victoria Supreme Court following passage of a state law allowing lawyers to earn contingency fees.
Underworld figure Mick Gatto has been denied a trial by jury in his defamation proceedings against the ABC, with the judge-only hearing scheduled to start next week.
A subsidiary of US mining giant Cleveland-Cliffs has fought back a second bid to quash its counterclaim for lost profits in a contractual dispute over the lucrative Koolyanobbing iron ore mine, with the Western Australia Court of Appeal saying the claim was not “clearly untenable” as argued.
National law firm Thomson Geer has effectively gutted the Brisbane office of global firm Dentons’, luring five key partners and their teams to beef up its real estate, banking and restructuring practices.
Victoria’s chief health officer has confirmed that a cluster of COVID-19 cases has been linked to law firm HWL Ebsworth, and has urged people to reconsider working from offices as coronavirus cases surge in the state.
A judge has ordered private health insurer Medibank to pay $5 million in penalties for rejecting the claims of hundreds of members who were entitled to coverage for critical medical procedures, including spinal surgery.
Venture capitalist Elaine Stead has refused to go into a second round of mediation in her defamation case against the Nine-owned Fairfax Media Publications saying it would be a “waste of time”.
Elderly victims of Ponzi schemer Bradley Sherwin have told the government’s class action inquiry of their “horrendous class action journey”, which led to a “pathetic outcome” in which the majority of a $12 million settlement with the Bank of Queensland went to the law firm and funder behind the case.
Westpac has denied claims in a shareholder class action filed in the wake of AUSTRAC proceedings alleging 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance laws, saying the information the class action says it should have disclosed to shareholders “did not exist”.
The corporate watchdog would not take action on funding terms in a Fair Work class action brought by Adero Law, after receiving reports of potential misleading or deceptive conduct by the law firm and the funder backing the case, according to submissions made in the government’s latest inquiry into litigation funding and class actions.