Class Actions

There is an “embarrassing” foreign influence on Australian laws, a plaintiff law firm has told a parliamentary inquiry into class actions, after revealing that Treasurer Josh Frydenberg met with an affiliate of the US Chamber of Commerce in May, shortly before announcing a crackdown on litigation funders.

The law firm that represented elderly victims of Ponzi schemer Bradley Sherwin has told the government’s class action inquiry of its “painful” relationship with the funder involved in the proceedings, which eventually saw the firm bow out of the case because of a conflict of interest.

The litigation funder behind the class action over Banksia Securities’ collapse has admitted it misled a costs consultant retained to report to the court on the reasonableness of the fees in the case, but says its commission should not take a hit as a result because the misconduct occurred after the litigation settled against Banksia’s trustee for $64 million.

An Australian litigation funder has warned a parliamentary inquiry into class actions that there is unlikely to be any funded class actions filed for up to 12 months, with new laws, set to take effect from August 22, creating a “regulatory vacuum”.

AMP Life has been hit with a class action alleging its financial representatives pushed inflated insurance policies onto 100,000 customers while knowing that better policies could be found through other providers.

Shine Lawyers has brought a class action in the Federal Court against cruise operators Carnival and Princess Cruise Lines over their handling of a deadly coronavirus outbreak aboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship that is linked to at least 20 deaths.

A national law firm has dodged an application for access to the files of its current and former clients brought by lawyers investigating a possible class action over allegedly excessive legal costs in personal injury litigation.

The Federal Government will not challenge a ruling in a class action brought on behalf of live exporters which found a total ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia in 2011 was “capricious and unreasonable”.

Uber has lost its latest challenge to a landmark class action that alleges the ride-sharing giant engaged in a conspiracy to steal business from taxi and limousine drivers across four states, with an appeals court dismissing arguments the case failed to properly allege an intent to harm.

A judge overseeing a class action against Suncorp over alleged conflicted remuneration has questioned a proposed opt out notice telling group members they should sign up with the funder backing the case or it might not proceed.