Class Actions

A class action has been filed against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia over commissions grandfathered by the Future of Financial Advice reforms.

The judge overseeing professional misconduct claims against lawyers in the Banksia class action appeared to express “a very dim view” of Alex Elliott, the son of class action lawyer Mark Elliott, and should not hear the case against him, a court has heard.

Maurice Blackburn is pushing back against an appeal by Treasury Wine Estates, which accuses the law firm and a barrister of breaching their obligations by using evidence discovered in a settled class action to launch a second case against the wine maker.

A judge has signed off on a $95 million settlement in a shareholder class action against Spotless after a heated exchange saw the funders backing the lawsuit drop their bid for $1.5 million in costs above their commission.

The public hearings before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services as part of an inquiry into litigation funding and regulation of the class action industry proved to be polarised and, at times, hostile and adversarial in tone. But the inquiry has proven to be a useful and insightful process and questioning by the Committee served to unearth not only relevant factual information and important empirical data but also touched on the commercial and financial interests of those on both sides of the debate. 

Financial services giant IOOF Holdings will be on the hook for any judgments or settlements reached in two class actions and an ASIC lawsuit as part of its $1.4 billion acquisition of NAB wealth management unit MLC.

A judge has stopped short of rejecting new claims in the Robodebt class action despite “obvious errors” in the allegations, but has sent the applicants back to the drawing board and warned them the matter would not proceed as a “dog’s breakfast”.

Maurice Blackburn is abandoning its class action against Westpac over the bank’s alleged responsible lending law breaches, weeks after ASIC lost its appeal in the so-called wagyu and shiraz case and conceded defeat.

The Federal Court’s top judge has refused a bid by the lead applicant in a class action against Crown Resorts to have the case declared a priority matter to allow Melbourne-based lawyers access to childcare while they prepare for a six-week trial.

The State of Victoria has been hit with a class action for its allegedly negligent handling of its hotel quarantine program, which is believed to be responsible for the state’s second wave of coronavirus cases.