The applicants in a protracted class action against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia brought by borrowers who claim they were forced to default on their commercial loans have lost a bid to amend their pleadings, six years after the case was filed.
Engineering company Worley is challenging an appeals court ruling that allowed a shareholder class action against it to continue, arguing the Full Court’s finding that opinions which “ought reasonably to have been held” should be disclosed to shareholders would lead to “absurd consequences”.
An appeals court’s finding that the federal government does not owe a duty of care to Australian kids to protect them from the effects of climate change will stand after the lead applicants declined to take the matter to the High Court.
The High Court has declined special leave to a class action to challenge a ruling that found dam operator Seqwater was not liable for the 2011 Queensland floods, after the state of Queensland and subcontractor Sunwater agreed to pay $440 million last year to settle their share of the liability in the long-running case.
A class action on behalf of Drakes store managers claimed to be worth up to $20 million has settled for $2.2 million, and the law firm behind the proceedings wants a cut of up to $837,000.
KPMG has again been targeted in a class action by shareholders of a defunct mining company, this time over allegedly misleading statements made by CuDeco ahead of a $63 million capital raising in 2016 and before the company’s collapse in 2020.
Nine has hit back at a class action by Indigenous Australians who say the broadcaster’s coverage of a $30 million class action settlement with the Queensland government for alleged police misconduct during the 2004 Palm Island riots was discriminatory and inaccurate, saying it reported the events “fairly and accurately”.
A judge has approved a bid by group members to discontinue a class action alleging pharmacy giant Priceline exercised an “overly prescriptive level of control” on franchisees which limited their profitability, saying it was unlikely to succeed with a litigation funder.
A judge has approved a $155,000 settlement in a class action on behalf of investors in failed streaming platform Guvera which racked up $500,000 in legal fees, saying the case should never have been filed as a class action and didn’t advance group members’ interests “one iota”.
King & Wood Mallesons could be dragged into a class action by commercial fishing operators against Gladstone Ports Corporation over a “colossal disclosure debacle” in which the late discovery of 39,000 documents derailed a planned September hearing.