Cruise operator Carnival has lost its bid to exclude US and UK passengers from a class action over the 2020 Ruby Princess COVID-19 outbreak, with a judge finding the Federal Court was not a “clearly inappropriate forum” to hear the dispute.
Insurance Australia has been hit with a class action by business owners whose claims for business interruption losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have been denied.
With mediation failing to resolve an expansive class action against the federal government over its use of allegedly toxic firefighting foam, a judge has charted a plan to avoid a “Brobdingnagian” trial and efficiently determine the claims of group members around eight military bases across Australia.
A judge has questioned the legal disbursements sought to be approved in a $30 million class action settlement against Westpac over allegedly excessive life insurance premiums, particularly the “extraordinarily large” barrister fees charged in the case.
Two shareholder class actions against sandalwood producer Quintis that reached an in principle settlement over a year ago are moving forward following a protracted dispute over insurance, with the lead applicants getting approval to file proposed amended pleadings.
After winning a three-way contest to lead a shareholder class action against construction giant Boral, Maurice Blackburn is seeking to stay a competing class action by Phi Finney McDonald that was allowed to continue as a closed class action.
The Western Australian state government has hit back at a class action brought by Indigenous workers seeking to recover unpaid wages, saying there was no breach of duty because the law at the time allowed the workers to be employed without pay.
A judge has found he has power to order that opt out notices be sent to a limited number of Boral shareholders eligible to join two class actions that faced off last month in a class action beauty parade.
Phi Finney McDonald will amend its funding agreement with Therium in a shareholder class action against Boral after a judge found that an irrevocable opt out provision placed the law firm in a “manifest position of conflict”.
A judgment in a heated carriage fight between three class actions against construction giant Boral provides some guidance to law firms about conduct that could potentially compromise their case for why they should be crowned the victor in a class action beauty parade.