Class Actions

A judge has tossed a class action brought by a self-represented applicant against Wilson Security, saying class actions should not be run without lawyers.

A litigation funder has reaped $7.5 million from the sale of a 20 per cent stake in a shareholder class action against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia over the bank’s allegedly lax money laundering compliance.

Virgin Australia has been ordered to disclose whether its insurer has agreed to indemnify it for any liability it may have in a shareholder class action over a prospectus for a $324 million capital raising just months before it filed for administration.

A litigation funder facing a lawsuit by the lead applicant in a settled class action it financed has won its bid to transfer the case to the Federal Court, where the class action was heard, after a judge said it was the “natural forum” for the dispute.

The New Zealand law commission has called on the government to implement a class action regime that would allow funders to seek the equivalent of a common fund order to “improve access to justice and efficiency in litigation”.

The solicitor found to have acted as a “postbox” to hide conflicts of interest in the class action over Banksia Securities’ collapse has been suspended from the roll of practitioners in Victoria for two years, after a judge found he was presently unfit to practice.

Cruise operator Scenic Tours is appealing a courtroom loss that could see it owing $25 million in damages in a class action by travelers who were promised a “once in a lifetime cruise along the grand waterways of Europe” but were instead forced to take the bus from city to city due to heavy rain and high water levels.

The law firm that lost the first ever application for a group costs order in class actions against ANZ and Westpac has indicated it will revive its bid, tweaking a retainer agreement with group members in hopes of winning the court’s approval this time.

A class action investigation is underway against Cosmos Clinics Australia after an investigative  report by Fairfax uncovered what it said was a “litany of troubling practices” at its clinics around Australia.

A judge who will oversee an upcoming hearing for approval of a $20 million settlement in a class action against Optus contractor BSA has urged the parties to sever the funder’s commission and costs from the settlement to avoid delays in distribution to group members.