Insurance

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has taken legal action on another referral from the banking royal commission, dragging life insurer TAL to court for allegedly engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct in its handling of a claim for coverage.

The head of Australia's largest unlisted insurance broker, Coverforce, may face a future damages claim for misleading or deceptive conduct if a recent acquisition of former Suncorp unit Resilium is not reversed, a court has found.

A judge on Tuesday questioned how elderly group members struggling with the digital age can register in a 'junk' insurance class action against National Australia Bank, amid the postponement of hearing to approve the $49.5 million settlement reached in the case.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia's insurance division, CommInsure, has been fined $700,000 for breaching insurance hawking laws in Australia's first post-Royal Commission criminal conviction, dodging a maximum fine of over $1.8 million through an early guilty plea and cooperation with ASIC.

Slater and Gordon is planning class actions against ANZ and Westpac over allegedly worthless insurance, fresh off of winning a $49.5 million settlement in a junk insurance class action against the National Australia Bank.

The National Australia Bank and insurer MLC have agreed to pay $49.5 million to settle a class action over allegedly worthless credit card insurance.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia's insurance division, CommInsure, has pleaded guilty to 87 criminal charges that it hawked life insurance products in unsolicited telephone calls, but wants credit for the early plea.

The Supreme Court of Victoria has considered whether an insured buyer under a warranty and indemnity policy is entitled to indemnity from an insurer when it relied on income and liability warranties in a share sale agreement and those warranties were breached, a case that provides welcome guidance on the contractual interpretation of W&I policies, writes Justin McDonnell and Rebecca LeBherz of King & Wood Mallesons.

Construction firm Icon Co has pressed the Federal Court for an expedited hearing in its case against insurers Liberty Mutual Insurance and QBE over the 2018 Opal Tower disaster, saying it wants to resolve the matter before a class action brought by apartment owners in building progresses too far.

A NSW Supreme Court judge has raised concerns about a dispute over fees owed to two law firms and a funder in relation to four shareholder actions brought against the liquidators of HIH Insurance.