A judge will allow workers in a sham contracting class action against technical services contractor BSA to rejoin the case after opting out, saying the company’s communications during the opt out period were capable of misleading “at least a significant proportion” of group members.
A shareholder class action against defunct fund manager Blue Sky Investments and others will be filed by the end of the year, Lawyerly has learned.
Reforms by the Morrison government passed earlier this month weakening continuous disclosure obligations will spur corporate defendants to engage in “expensive interlocutory warfare” to shut down class actions right off the bat, and plaintiffs lawyers are waiting to see how the courts interpret the new laws to determine these early strike-out fights.
With mediation failing to resolve an expansive class action against the federal government over its use of allegedly toxic firefighting foam, a judge has charted a plan to avoid a “Brobdingnagian” trial and efficiently determine the claims of group members around eight military bases across Australia.
The applicant in a class action on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Colonial First State Investments customers has raised concerns about whether he can recover compensation from a CBA life insurance unit that was recently sold to a competitor.
The Federal Court has given the greenlight to a $30 million settlement in Shine Lawyers’ insurance class action against Westpac and will allow post-settlement registration notices to be sent to group members.
The former senior counsel in a settled insurance class action against Westpac has had his fees reduced by $70,000 after the Federal Court heard some of the work for which he charged was not done in the interests of group members.
The applicant in a shareholder class action against IOOF wants to add ten new misconduct allegations, including that a relative of a former executive made $69,000 by offloading shares.
A judge has slammed an “absurd” class action settlement offer made by pelvic mesh device maker Astora Women’s Health that would require Shine Lawyers to provide the company with indemnities, saying “no rational judge” would approve it.
A controversial announcement by Victorian-based fruit and vegetable processor SPC that it will mandate COVID-19 vaccines for all of its 450 onsite workers could face legal challenges on several grounds.