The judge hearing a class action trial against Ford over its allegedly defective Powershift transmission has rejected the car maker’s argument that certain documents should be suppressed because they hold trade secrets, saying Ford did not invent the 6 Sigma problem solving method on which some of the reports were based.
Westpac is facing a class action over an allegedly dishonest car loan scheme that was eventually banned by the corporate regulator.
Dam operator Seqwater is challenging a decision that put it on the hook for 50 per cent of any damages payouts to thousands of members of a long-running class action over the 2011 floods that destroyed 2,000 Queensland homes.
The commission rates of litigation funders have come under attack on the first day of a parliamentary inquiry into class actions, with the CEO of funder Omni Bridgeway in the firing line over a $10.5 million cut of a recent $42 million settlement in a class action against milk supplier Murray Goulburn.
A hearing in the Federal Government’s latest inquiry into class actions kicked off Monday with attacks on the credibility of one of the heads of Liberal think tank the Menzies Research Centre, who was excoriated by a Labor senator for providing “unsubstantiated” data from Herbert Smith Freehills that group members receive on average 39 per cent of class action proceeds.
Cladding manufacturer Fairview Architectural has filed for voluntary administration, citing challenges posed by COVID-19 and $1.5 million spent so far defending a class action alleging it misrepresented the quality of its “highly flammable” cladding.
A judge has warned counsel leading a shareholder class action against logistics provider GetSwift that “real persuasion” would be needed to convince him to allow the class to expand its case two months out from trial.
A judge has cut a request a security for costs in half in insurance rectification proceedings stemming from two class against sandalwood producer Quintis, saying the amount proposed by the funders bankrolling the case was “quite generous”.
A judge has ordered two class actions brought against 7-Eleven on behalf of franchisees to pay $3 million in security for costs as trial in the cases gets pushed to August next year.
A judge has pushed off a heated contest between law firms vying to lead a shareholder class action against construction giant Boral for what could be a year as a landmark High Court challenge plays out.