Westpac has been hit with a class action for allegedly breaching responsible lending laws by providing unsuitable loans, the first of the big four banks to face a class action in the wake of the banking royal commission’s scathing final report.
Gladstone Ports has won access to draft expert reports prepared by Clyde & Co in its $100 million class action against the Queensland government owned organisation, with a judge ruling the documents were not privileged despite their not being used in the case.
A judge has reprimanded CIMIC Group’s preparations to defend a class action against it, saying a late attempt to file critical evidence was a sign something “pretty horrible” had gone on behind the scenes.
A judge has ruled for investors in a class action alleging they sank $12.3 million into a sports trading scam masterminded by convicted conman Peter Foster, saying they were entitled to recover their misappropriated money from the “notorious confidence trickster”.
Law firm Slater and Gordon is investigating a class action against hospitals for encouraging “excessive and unsafe” work hours by doctors, some of whom the firm found routinely work up to 100 hours per week.
A judge’s decision to halt questioning about ASIC emails in a class action trial over the 2008 collapse of finance group Octaviar didn’t shut the case down, the Public Trustee of Queensland has told the Full Federal Court, calling the appeal of the class action’s dismissal “completely misconceived”.
A product liability class action has been filed against the manufacturers of Alucobond PE cladding, the first of what’s expected to be several lawsuits over the combustible cladding, believed to be in the majority of buildings in Australia.
Critical emails from ASIC regarding a $250 million loan facility to Octaviar Group before its 2008 collapse were not only overlooked by the Public Trustee of Queensland in its role overseeing the firm’s finances but were wrongly deemed irrelevant by the judge that heard the case, the Full Federal Court was told.
A judge overseeing a class action against the NSW government over a contractor who sold injured workers’ information to Bannister Law has questioned the effectiveness of placing ads for group members on law firm websites, saying she didn’t think it would “draw the matter to anyone’s attention”.
A judge has put a proposal for a common fund order in a class action against sandalwood producer Quintis on hold as the court awaits judgment in an historic challenge to the power of courts to make common fund orders.