A judge has signed off on a $16.5 million settlement of a shareholder class action against collapsed engineering and construction company Forge Group.
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.
The law firm and funder behind a class action against collapsed engineering and construction company Forge Group, former directors and their insurers, which has now settled for $16.5 million, have proposed cuts that would see $8.25 million left over for distribution to group members.
QBE Underwriting has defended its decision to deny insurance coverage to the builder of Sydneyâs troubled Opal Tower development, claiming the cracking was not âmajorâ and did not cause last yearâs Christmas Eve evacuation.
The defendants in the Sydney Opal Tower class action have been formally banned from contacting represented group members about their claims while the proceeding remains on foot, after communications were allegedly sent to apartment owners.
The NSW government’s Sydney Olympic Park Authority, which is facing a class action brought by owners of apartments at the troubled Opal Tower, has laid the blame on the developer, designer and builder behind the project.
Two units of global insurer Lloyd’s have launched a constitutional challenge to a Federal Court order requiring accounting firm Pitcher Partners to hand over certain insurance documents in two shareholder class actions.
A judge has promised the parties in the Sydney Opal Tower class action that the matter will be âresolved expeditiouslyâ, despite the plaintiffâs concerns that cross-claims by the defendant and procedural timeframes will cause delays.