Class Actions

AMP has set aside $50 million in its financial statement for the first half of 2023 to cover potential liability in a class action won last month by financial advisers over the wealth manager’s buyer of last resort policy.

The state of Victoria is making a bid to suppress its defence in a class action brought over the 2020 hotel quarantine fiasco, as it faces a “substantially altered” indictment in a related criminal proceeding.

A judge has directed a class action on behalf of 1,000 patients of Sydney-based plastic surgeon Daniel Lanzer and four of his associates to have another go at articulating claims that Lanzer’s clinic should be liable for allegedly ‘horrific’ complications. 

A judge has signed off on a 25 per cent group costs order in a class action against Suncorp subsidiary AAI, after accepting that the back-up plan of law firm Maurice Blackburn was not artificially uncertain.

A shareholder class action has been filed against medical glove manufacturer Ansell Limited following an earnings guidance downgrade blamed on COVID-19.

A class action against Optus over a cyberattack that left the data of up to 10 million customers exposed is seeking access to an independent report prepared by Deloitte into the causes of the hack.

The judge asked to approve a settlement in a class action against retirement village provider Aveo has sent a shot across the bow to law firms seeking to make broad confidentiality claims over the settlement, saying such claims should be kept “to a minimum” in class actions.

The Federal Court has granted a bid by plaintiffs in competing class actions against Downer EDI to transfer their cases to the Victoria Supreme Court, where a four-way contest will take place.

The High Court has dismissed a constitutional appeal by Irish insurer Zurich, clearing the way for a class action over an allegedly defective New Zealand apartment block to proceed in the NSW Supreme Court.

Insurer Vero is fighting a ruling that added it to a class action against cladding manufacturer Fairview Architectural over allegedly combustible cladding.