Western Power is not entitled to palm off the legal costs of defending a class action after an appeals court found it was negligent in causing the January 2014 Perth Hills bushfire which destroyed 57 homes, a court has said.
Recent changes to the law requiring funded class actions to be registered as managed investment schemes have complicated the question of how best to resolve the multiplicity issue in two class actions brought against Freedom Foods and Deloitte.
Westpac has been ordered to pay $3 million after two subsidiaries admitted misleading hundreds of superannuation customers about the financial adviser fees they were charged, a penalty that took into account the Big Four bank’s massive profits.
Western Power was negligent in causing the January 2014 Perth Hills bushfire which destroyed 57 homes, an appeals court has found, putting the state-owned electricity company on the hook for the majority of the damage caused to members in the group action.
The stage is set for a beauty parade of two shareholder class actions against Freedom Foods and Deloitte, and the judge overseeing the cases has embraced the recommendation of the High Court to appoint an independent barrister to represent group members in the contest.
Two Westpac units have made admissions and said they would not defend proceedings brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission over fees charged for services that were not provided to hundreds of financial advice customers.
The courts are to be congratulated for swiftly adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic by introducing virtual hearings, but barristers told Lawyerly they were raring to get back to in-person hearings, and cited numerous disadvantages of holding complex matters online.