Class Actions

The lead applicant in a class action against former Commonwealth Bank of Australia subsidiary Count Financial has settled individual claims in the case, which alleges the financial advisory firm charged fees for no service.

A judge has warned two law firms competing to run a class action against IC Markets over risky contracts-for-difference that it will be held against them if they take a “holding position” on their funding proposals and attempt to negotiate their bids down later.

The judge overseeing a six-year-old class action against BHP over the collapse of a Brazilian dam has allowed the applicant to retroactively amend the group definition, accepting that a pleading mistake was contrary to the intended class membership in the case.

A judge will not allow a law firm that stepped in to lead class actions against Hyundai and Kia to amend its funding proposal to seek a group costs order ahead of a carriage fight, even though its proposal would have led to greater returns for group members.

A judge has thrown out a self-represented customer’s lawsuit against non-bank lender Latitude Financial after he defaulted on court orders and refused to join tech giants DXC Technology and Crowdstrike to his case over a cyberattack that compromised 14 million customer records. 

A class action has argued Medibank cannot claim legal professional privilege over three Deloitte reports after disclosing them to reassure the market and customers after a massive 2022 data breach.

Domino’s is facing a potential shareholder class action for allegedly misleading the market about its expected performance in Japan. 

The judge overseeing a consumer class action against wealth manager Colonial First State Investments has given the green light to a $100 million settlement, but questioned a $23.1 million cut to funder Augusta under a “strange” funding agreement.

A class action over the Victorian government’s decision to retire Melbourne’s high rise public housing towers has agreed to drop claims against the state of Victoria and the minister for housing after a judge threw out the claims but allowed the class action to replead.

A judge has ordered Crown Resorts to share the costs of soft class closure with the plaintiff in a shareholder class action accusing it of lax anti-money laundering compliance, saying that soft class closure ahead of mediation was in the interests of both parties.