Class Actions

A judge overseeing an appeal in a carriage dispute in a class action against Jaguar Land Rover over allegedly defective diesel filters has said he prefers the approach of the Supreme Court of Victoria to such fights, saying firms should not revise their bids multiple times.

A judge has ordered soft class closure ahead of mediation in a class action against five major banks over alleged foreign exchange rate-rigging, saying the applicant’s subjective view on what will assist mediation should not be imposed on the banks.

A judge has questioned the applicant’s opposition to soft class closure in a class action accusing five major banks of rate-rigging, a measure the banks say could save “tens of millions” in legal expenses. 

The applicant in a competition class action against AGL Energy has failed to find another funder to back the case after the original funder that bankrolled the case withdrew its support.

A judge hearing an appeal by a funder over its cut of a $98 million settlement in franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven has said the $12 million commission was “plainly too little”, and questioned if the class action judge had been “stuck” on the idea that common fund orders are bad. 

A judge has railed against insurer QBE after it sent an email to brokers saying it could “in effect ignore” the court’s request that they notify clients about a class action on behalf of businesses that were denied business interruption coverage for COVID-19 related shutdowns. 

A judge has dismissed a bid by Medibank to restrain the Office of Australian Information Commissioner from proceeding with a class action-style complaint on behalf of millions of the private health insurer’s customers affected by an October 2022 data breach.

A judge has declined a novel bid by the lead applicant in a class action over disruptions stemming from the construction of Sydney’s $3 billion light rail to claim a funder’s 40 per cent commission as damages, rather than as a deduction from group members’ payout.

A Melbourne pawnbroker is facing a class action over alleged “unjust transactions” involving loans that were given in exchange for customers’ sentimental items and with annual interest rates equivalent to 480 per cent.

Beach Energy is fighting a bid to adjourn a fight about security for costs in a shareholder class action until the firm that’s running it has more favourable evidence of its debt financing position, saying the application is “doctrinally unprecedented.”