A fed-up judge has vented his frustration with the problem of competing class actions in a move that appears to punish the second filed case against Medibank. But is he right that the courts are increasingly being asked to deal with duplicative proceedings? And was his order really all that drastic?
One of the two remaining class actions against the Department of Defence over the use of alleged toxic firefighting foam at military bases across the country has settled for $132.7 million on the eve of trial, with the final case going back to mediation.
Commonwealth Bank and other lenders of failed steel giant Arrium have lost a second attempt to put two of the company’s directors on the hook for alleged misleading representations on loan drawdown notices ahead of its $2.8 billion collapse.
The liquidators of failed engineering company Hastie Group have appealed a decision that knocked out half its $120 million case against Multiplex, Lendlease and numerous other builders.
Insurer Atradius has lost its bid to bring a $1.5 billion (US$1 billion) case against four KordaMentha liquidators and 60 financiers of the Arrium group alleging they failed to act under a duty of utmost good faith when agreeing on how to divvy up sale proceeds for several entities.
Private health insurer Medibank has hit back at a class action over a data breach that affected close to 10 million customers, describing the claims as “hopeless.”
Unless the parties can reach a last minute settlement over the weekend, trial in a class action against the Department of Defence over the use of alleged toxic firefighting foam at military bases across the country will begin Monday.
A judge has expressed his “frustration” that a class action against the government over the use of alleged toxic firefighting foam has not settled despite the resolution of similar group proceedings almost three years ago.
A judge has found that lead plaintiffs in a class action by commercial fishing operations against Gladstone Ports can bring new claims out of time, saying it would be “grossly inconsistent” if group members had broader limitation relief than representative parties.
Retailers represented in a class action against Tyro over an EFTPOS outage will get 40 per cent of a settlement with the fintech after a funding commission and fees are deducted.