Class Actions

A judge has discontinued a class action by Victorian councils against insurer JLT Risk Solutions, but has departed from the decisions of two other judges by ruling the suspension of the time limit for bringing the councils’ claims will immediately be lifted. 

Awaiting judgment in Federal Court class actions by shareholders over its money laundering risk disclosures, the Commonwealth Bank will ask the court to reopen the case to consider the relevance of two recent decisions that found shareholders in other class actions had failed to prove loss.

The Minister for Agriculture has rejected an offer to settle a nine-year-old class action over the government’s 2011 ban on the live export of cattle for $510 million plus up to $390 million in legal costs and interest. 

Apple has failed to prevent a funder from accessing data that will allow it to estimate potential damages in a class action it’s bankrolling over allegedly anti-competitive app store restrictions.

The federal government has hit back at a class action over an outbreak of white spot disease in South-East Queensland that decimated the commercial prawn industry, pointing the finger at several importers and saying farmers failed to mitigate their own losses.

Aged care provider Anglicare has hit back at a class action filed on behalf of 25 people whose loved ones died during a COVID-19 outbreak at the Newmarch House in Sydney, saying it owed no duty of care to prevent mental harm to its residents’ family members.

Subcontractor Ventia Utility Services had lost its bid to recover $5.6 million in alleged overpayments to class action group members from co-defendant Western Power, after its liability was reduced on appeal in a representative proceeding over the 2014 Perth Hills bushfire.

Aldi is seeking to have a class action alleging it systematically underpaid workers across Australia to the tune of $150 million summarily dismissed, after claiming it was served with a “bad pleading”. 

International law firm HFW has lured a team of eight lawyers from Clyde & Co, led by a partner known for his litigation funding practice.

The country’s most experienced class action law firm won two and lost two in last year’s beauty parades before the courts, showing track record is not everything when it comes to winning carriage of cases and that picking the winner can be a tricky business. From line-ball decisions to law firm team-ups and the lowest contingency fee order yet, here’s how 2023’s class action contests went down.