Eight law firms made it to the courthouse door just under the wire last week, filing class actions on the eve of regulations that will require funders to register their class actions as managed investment schemes.
Communications and technical services company BSA Limited has slammed as “opportunistic” an employment class action by allegedly underpaid technicians, saying the media was informed of the proceedings before it was.
Shine Lawyers is investigating two new class actions against Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac’s BT Funds Management over allegedly excessive insurance premiums, a week after filing a similar case against AMP’s life insurance arm.
There is an āembarrassingā foreign influence on Australian laws, a plaintiff law firm has told a parliamentary inquiry into class actions, after revealing that Treasurer Josh Frydenberg met with an affiliate of the US Chamber of Commerce in May, shortly before announcing a crackdown on litigation funders.
AMP Life has been hit with a class action alleging its financial representatives pushed inflated insurance policies onto 100,000 customers while knowing that better policies could be found through other providers.
Shine Lawyers has brought a class action in the Federal Court against cruise operators Carnival and Princess Cruise Lines over their handling of a deadly coronavirus outbreak aboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship that is linked to at least 20 deaths.
IOOF has admitted that some allegations in an employee complaint at the centre of a shareholder class action were “substantially true”, including claims that it overstated the performance of its ‘Buy Model’ investment portfolio and that its head of research instructed subordinates to complete his training courses for him.
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.
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 is facing a class action over an allegedly dishonest car loan scheme that was eventually banned by the corporate regulator.