The Bank of Queensland has agreed to pay ASIC $19.7 million inclusive of costs to compensate Bank of Queensland customers who borrowed from the bank to invest with Storm Financial Limited.
For further information visit http://www.asic.gov.au
Sydney, Australia
1300 00 2088
Representative or group proceedings (class actions) were introduced to Australia through the Federal Court of Australia Amendment Act 1991 (Cth) which amended the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth). They have since been introduced in Victoria under the Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic) and in NSW under the Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW).
Most class actions are brought in the Federal Court of Australia. The court rules require the following thresholds to be met before proceedings can be commenced:
Currently there are a number of class actions either under investigation on foot in Australia. Some of the more notable ones include:
ABC Learning Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
ABC Learning Centres Ltd (In Liquidation) – Chargeholders (Bentham IMF Limited)
ABC Learning Centres Ltd (Shareholder Action) (Bentham IMF Limited)
ABN Amro (now Royal Bank of Scotland) and S&P re Rembrandt Notes 2006-2 (Bentham IMF Limited)
ASAS (Group Action) (Bentham IMF Limited)
Air Cargo Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Air Cargo (Bentham IMF Limited)
Alcoa Alumina Refinery Multiple Plaintiff Action (Shine Lawyers)
Allco Shareholder Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
American Mesh Systems (AMS) Class Action (Shine Lawyers)
Arundel Suntown Tip Class Action (Shine Lawyers)
Australian Capital Reserve Class Action (Slater and Gordon)
Bank Fees Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Bank Fees Class Actions (Bentham IMF Limited)
Bank of Queensland (Bentham IMF Limited)
Billabong Shareholder Class Action (Slater and Gordon)
Black Saturday Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Bladder Cancer Group Action assocated with Actos Diabetes Drug (Maurice Blackburn)
Bonsoy Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Brisconnections (Bentham IMF Limited)
Brooklyn Park Olives (Slater and Gordon)
Cash Converters Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
CBA’s Open Advice Review Program – Commonwealth Financial Planning and Financial Wisdom Claims (Slater and Gordon)
Certain Lloyds Underwriters (Bentham IMF Limited)
CFA Fiskville claims (Slater and Gordon)
Class Action on behalf of people detained on Christmas Island (Maurice Blackburn)
Collingwood Park Mine Subsidence Group (Shine Lawyers)
Dan Bowl Tax Minimisation Scheme Group Action (Shine Lawyers)
DePuy ASR Hip Implants (Maurice Blackburn)
DePuy ASR Hip Replacement Class Action (Shine Lawyers)
DePuy / Johnson & Johnson Knee Replacement Class Action (Shine Lawyers)
DePuy (LCS Duofix Femoral Component) Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Elders Limited (Slater and Gordon)
Equine Influenza Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Fairbridge Farm School (Slater and Gordon)
False Imprisonment of Young People Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Financial Wisdom Class Action (Shine Lawyers)
Firepower (Bentham IMF Limited)
Gladstone Harbour Disaster Representative Class Action (Shine Lawyers)
Grand Western Lodge Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Great Southern – Cattle (Bentham IMF Limited)
Great Southern – Woodlots (Bentham IMF Limited)
Gunns Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Gunns Ltd (Bentham IMF Limited)
Hastie Group (Slater and Gordon)
Hazelwood Coal Mine Fire Investigation (Maurice Blackburn)
Hepatitis C Class Action (Slater and Gordon)
Immigration Detention Claims (Slater and Gordon)
ION Ltd (Bentham IMF Limited)
Johnson & Johnson/ Ethicon Class Action (Shine Lawyers)
Lehman Australia (Bentham IMF Limited)
Leighton Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
LM Investments Funds (Slater and Gordon)
Local Government Financial Services (Bentham IMF Limited)
Lynx Engineering Consultants Pty Ltd (Bentham IMF Limited)
Macquarie Equities Financial Planning Claims (Slater and Gordon)
NAB Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM) Class Action (Slater and Gordon)
NSW Bushfires Class Action (Slater and Gordon)
NZ bank fees (Slater and Gordon/Play Fair on Fees)
Octaviar (formerly MFS Ltd) (Bentham IMS Limited)
Pacific First Mortgage Fund Claim against Minter Ellison Gold Coast (Maurice Blackburn)
Perth Hills/Parkerville Bushfire (Slater and Gordon)
PIF (Premium Income Fund) Investors v KPMG & Ors (Bentham IMF Limited)
Prevelly-Margaret River Bushfires – November 2011 (Slater and Gordon)
QBE Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Queensland Floods Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Ratings Redress CPDOs (Bentham IMF Limited)
Retail Adventures Pty Limited (In Liquidation) (Bentham IMF Limited)
River City Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
River City Motorway (Bentham IMF Limited)
Standard & Poors (Lehman) (Bentham IMF Limited)
Thalidomide Class Action (Slater & Gordon)
Treasury Wine Estates Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Treasury Wine Estates Limited (Bentham IMF Limited)
Vodafone and Crazy John’s Class Action (Piper Alderman)
Westgem Investments (Bentham IMF)
Workers with Intellectual Disabilities Class Action (Maurice Blackburn)
Zimmer Durom Hip Replacement Class Action (Shine Lawyers)
Sydney, Australia
1300 00 2088
ON 1 SEPTEMBER 2014, the Federal Court of Australia delivered Cash Converters International Limited v Gray [2014] FCAFC 111 (1 September 2014).
The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia dismissed an appeal by Cash Converters against a decision of a primary judge declining to strike out the Statement of Claim in two proceedings brought against Cash Converters alleging unconscionable and excessive loan fees. The Full Court held that the proceedings had been properly constituted.
Sydney, Australia
1300 00 2088
ON 26 JUNE 2014, the Senate Economics References Committee released it’s final report entitled Performance of Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Economics/ASIC/Final_Report/index
Of note, the committee found that there had been misconduct on the part of the advisors and planners within the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s financial planning business and recommended that an enquiry, in the form of a judicial enquiry or Royal Commission, be established to investigate those matters as well as allegations of cover up.
It was recommended that the proposed inquiry identify the conduct amounting to breaches of law or professional standards and review all files to assess the appropriateness of the compensation process and the amounts of compensation offered by the bank.
The Bank’s CEO, Ian Narev, has apologised to the customers who received “poor advice” but and prefers to have an internal “independent” inquiry, called the Open Advice Review Program, rather than a Royal Commission.
1300 00 2088
ON 15 NOVEMBER 1967, the Supreme Court of California delivered Daar v Yellow Cab Co 67 Cal.2d 695 (1967).
http://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/daar-v-yellow-cab-co-27419
