Avant Insurance has lost a bid to pause an order that it pay $371,000 in the legal costs of a surgeon facing a class action by breast implant patients of defunct clinic the Cosmetic Institute while the insurer’s appeal is pending.
A judge has vacated a March hearing in a class action against cruise operator Carnival over last year’s Ruby Princess COVID-19 outbreak, a week after resolving an almost year-long dispute about whether overseas passengers could be part of the proceeding.
A ruling this week that rejected the first application for a group costs order in a class action because the applicants were better off with their existing no win, no fee arrangement was the right decision given the limits of the legislation, experts say.
Federal environment minister Sussan Ley has approved a controversial coal mining project that is expected to release 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the Earth’s atmosphere, despite a landmark ruling that the government has a duty of care to consider the impact of fossil fuel projects on the next generation of Australians.
Insurance broker JLT Risk Solutions has opposed an application by a group of NSW councils to add misleading and deceptive conduct allegations to a long-running class action, claiming the changes would force the vacation of a five-week trial due to start in October.
Six of the world’s largest car makers have agreed to pay $52 million to settle class actions accusing them of selling cars with deadly Takata airbags.
A judge has signed off on a proposal by two law firms to jointly run a consolidated class action against Allianz over add-on car insurance, shooting down the insurer’s argument that a beauty contest would promote competitive contingency fee rates.
Boral has denied that shareholders bringing two class actions against it over financial irregularities in its North America windows business suffered any loss, saying that its systems helped spot and prevent the financial manipulation from continuing.
Prefab concrete company Evolution Precast Systems failed to install reinforced concrete in Sydney’s ill-fated Opal Tower and knew about a prior failure with one of the building’s panels, engineer WSP Structures alleges in a cross-claim lobbed in a class action on behalf of residents of the tower.
Saying the interests of class action members “must be given primacy”, a judge has rejected the first bid for a group costs order in a class action since contingency fee legislation passed in Victoria.