A court has found that insurer Youi breached its duty of utmost good faith by taking two years to settle a home owner’s hail storm claim.
The states of Victoria and Queensland have joined two class actions over allegedly combustible cladding as group members, with the claims in the proceedings now exceeding $500 million.
Lawyers behind a class action against AMP over changes to its buyer of last resort policy have told a court the parties can’t agree on releases attached to BOLR payments that require exiting financial advisers to waive their claims in the litigation.
Telstra has lost an appeal in a case brought by Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane city councils over a planned upgrade of its payphone network across Australia, with an appeals court pointing to an “apparent paradox” in the telco’s claim it did not need planning permits to install its next generation digital phone booths.
A Victoria Supreme Court judge hearing two competing class actions against Allianz Australia over “junk” insurance has asked the parties for feedback on what she should consider at a hearing on a request for a group costs order, which would allow the plaintiff lawyers to earn a cut of any settlement or judgment, the first such request made since Victoria legalised contingency fees.
A finding this week that Norton Rose Fulbright intentionally misled a former lawyer in an employment dispute and abused the court’s processes threatens the legal career of an equity partner at the firm and is a warning to all firms to think twice before representing themselves in cases involving soured professional relationships.
A former Norton Rose Fulbright partner has won a long-running case over his termination, with a judge ruling the law firm had intentionally misled the lawyer and must pay him $160,000 for its deception.
Litigation funder Augusta Ventures has won its challenge to a landmark ruling that it pay $3.1 million in security for the costs of two Fair Work class actions it is financing on behalf of casual mine workers.
Mining giant Glencore has mostly defeated an appeal by the Australian Taxation Office in their tax fight, and will only have to pay $2 million of a $92 million bill relating to the sale of copper from a mine in Cobar, NSW.
An amicus curiae will be appointed by the court to argue against a common fund order application by the funder backing a class action against two Insurance Australia Group subsidiaries, after the insurance giant agreed to a $138 million settlement last month.