The law firm running an underpayments class action against petrol convenience store chain On The Run has been ordered to issue a notice correcting certain statements made on its website about the company and the class action, including that the claims in the case are worth up to $70 million.
Shareholder class actions protect shareholder value and promote long-term system changes, an Australian superannuation fund has told the government’s latest class action inquiry.
Barrister Norman O’Bryan SC has abandoned his defence of misconduct allegations stemming from the Banksia Securities class action and expressed contrition to the court for his actions.
Lawyers running a class action against recycling company Sims Metal Management say the court has power to approve their bid to amend the group member definition that will effectively close the class, but the judge overseeing the case will appoint a contradictor to represent group members in a hearing over the application.
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.
The judge overseeing a trial over legal fees and funding commission in the Banksia Securities class action has questioned whether the lawyers behind the case should remain on the roll of practitioners if allegations of misconduct aired in the hearing so far — which include billing for phantom costs — are made out.
Liquidators for collapsed steel and mining giant Arrium have successfully appealed a court ruling permitting the examination of a former director for a possible shareholder class action, with the Court of Appeal for the NSW Supreme Court finding the “private nature” of the claims was an abuse of process.
A judge has narrowed discovery in a class action against the Commonwealth of Australia over allegedly unlawful Robodebt payments, criticising the lead applicants for persisting with an approach to discovery that “was not a particularly helpful one”.
The law firm behind a long-running class action against Pitcher Partners over its auditing of Slater and Gordon is seeking court approval to drop the case, leaving the funder that bankrolled the proceeding to defend an application for indemnity costs.
Revelations of fraud this week in the Banksia class action have put the ability of judges to scrutinise litigation funding agreements in the spotlight of a parliamentary class action inquiry, with one MP claiming the judiciary was “stretched beyond capacity”.