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.
A judge has scolded the law firms behind competing shareholder class actions against Boral for delaying progress of the proceedings, but may wait until the High Court’s ruling on the AMP class action beauty parade before deciding which of three potential class actions should move forward.
The lead applicant in a class action against Ford over its allegedly defective PowerShift transmission broke down after being accused of lying under oath during a heated virtual cross-examination by the car company’s barrister.
Tens of thousands of Ford cars which contain an allegedly defective transmission system are “lemons”, a court heard on day one of a six-week hearing in a long-running class action against the car maker.
A penalty hearing in the ACCC’s case against health booking company HealthEngine over misleading online reviews has been adjourned after a judge criticised the parties’ joint submissions as “deficient” for failing to explain how a proposed $2.9 million penalty had been arrived at.
Ford has lost its bid to delay an upcoming virtual trial in a class action over allegedly defective PowerShift transmissions, with a judge saying the parties must try to make a virtual trial work because the current “unsatisfactory” circumstances caused by the coronavirus pandemic could continue for a year or more.
Arguing that the court should not be “baulking at problems that have the potential to occur”, counsel for a class action against Ford is pushing back against a bid by the car maker to put the brakes on an upcoming virtual trial the company says will be too difficult and costly.
With the common fund order tossed in a class action against two IAG entities over allegedly worthless add-on insurance, a Federal Court judge on Tuesday was asked to grapple with a practice note in determining when to notify group members of a possible order to “equitably and fairly” distribute the legal costs and funding commission in the proceedings.
The judge overseeing a conflicted remuneration class action against Suncorp has allowed the class to bring an unconscionable conduct claim, but put the kibosh on the plaintiff’s use of the phrase ‘inter alia,’ saying “only I get to use Latin”.
The judge overseeing a class action against car maker Ford over its allegedly defective PowerShift transmission has shot down the applicant’s request for additional discovery, saying that after multiple delays in the case “the well has run dry”.