An appeals court has overturned a ruling ordering class closure in seven representative proceedings against car makers over defective Takata airbags, finding courts do not have the power to make class closure orders.
The lead applicant in a shareholder class action against Crown Resorts is considering alternative options for examining 18 former jailed employees after an appeals court found communication with the employees was impermissible given confidentiality agreements they had with Crown.
The power of courts to choose a single winner from a contest of competing class actions is not the likely target of the High Court in taking up a challenge to last year’s beauty parade of shareholder proceedings against AMP, but the analysis behind the decision to award Maurice Blackburn the prize could face scrutiny, experts say.
Labour hire firm One Key Resources is facing an employment class action on behalf of casual coal mine workers who were allegedly denied annual leave and severance pay entitlements, the latest class action alleging workers have been misclassified as casuals.
Two barristers facing professional misconduct allegations in relation to the Banksia securities class action submitted more than $2.65 million in legal bills without documentation more than five years after the class action was filed and may have done so at the behest of funder Mark Elliott, a court has heard.
Target Australia is facing a possible class action for allegedly failing to pay staff overtime or penalties for time that they worked, two months after revealing it underpaid staff at its retail stores $9 million.
The second of two class actions brought against Westpac over alleged anti-money laundering breaches has been denied discovery of what the bank claims are commercially sensitive documents until the law firms behind the class actions work out how their competing cases will proceed.
The High Court has agreed to weigh in on a decision last year to pick Maurice Blackburn’s case as the winner of a beauty parade of shareholder class actions against AMP over the wealth manager’s controversial fees for no service.
Ford has lost its bid to delay an upcoming virtual trial in a class action over allegedly defective PowerShift transmissions, with a judge saying the parties must try to make a virtual trial work because the current “unsatisfactory” circumstances caused by the coronavirus pandemic could continue for a year or more.
Cigno is facing a possible class action over alleged predatory lending practices that were banned by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission last year, one day after losing a courtroom challenge to the ban.