Ardent Leisure Group has hit back at a $310 million shareholder class action, denying that there were “obvious” risks in its Thunder River Rapids Ride ahead of a 2016 tragedy at the Dreamworld theme park which claimed four lives.
Virgin Australia has been ordered to return four jet engines to the United States, after a court found the embattled airline and its administrators failed to properly hand over the engines and other equipment to their owners.
Telstra has won its battle with Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane over a planned upgrade of its payphone network across Australia, with a judge ruling the teleco did not need planning permits to install the next generation, digital phone booths.
Companies and other defendants forked over big sums last year to settle more than 20 class actions, with a total of at least $734 million being paid out. Here are the top 10 class action settlements and the law firms and funders that negotiated them.
Former Dick Smith executives Nick Abboud and Michael Potts have pointed the finger at the defunct electronics retailer’s other directors in response to cross claims by auditor Deloitte, which is named in two shareholder class actions over the company’s collapse.
Two units of global insurer Lloyd’s have launched a constitutional challenge to a Federal Court order requiring accounting firm Pitcher Partners to hand over certain insurance documents in two shareholder class actions.
A judge has signed off on a $40 million settlement reached in shareholder class action against Sirtex, including a $10 million cut for the funders, saying commission rates should reflect the risks taken by funders.
Two companies owned by the ex-director of Dial A Dump have failed in a bid to secure $584 million in compensation for land compulsorily acquired by the NSW Government for the WestConnex project, with the court granting them less than 10 per cent of that amount.
Two former executives of Dick Smith may seek to vacate an upcoming trial date for two class actions against the failed retailer, after recently being hit with cross claims by the company’s former auditor, Deloitte.
Allianz and a number of other insurers of Dick Smith are now facing a class action over the extent of coverage under an insurance policy for the collapsed electronics retailer’s initial public offering.