Great Southern class action discontinued

The Great Southern class action claim commenced by DC Legal against Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has fallen over. This follows the striking out on Wednesday of the separate class action initiated by Macpherson + Kelley (M + K).

Today, DC Legal discontinued its class action against the bank just two weeks after the law firm launched its claim in the Federal Court of Sydney.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Managing Director, Mike Hirst, said the bank was not surprised.

“The bank’s conduct during the collapse of Great Southern and its subsequent dealings with borrowers has been vindicated twice this week, with one class action falling over and the other suffering a significant set back.”

M + K claims it has gathered extra information since its initial arguments were formulated and indicated it will make a further attempt to articulate a claim.

However, Mr Hirst said he was concerned for borrowers who will be asked to fund a further claim.

“If this new evidence is so compelling, why wasn’t it included in the original claim?,” he questioned.

“Surely borrowers would have expected M + K to put its best argument forward first, so as to reduce the time and money spent on legal proceedings.

“The time has come for borrowers to consider whether they should continue to expose themselves to compound and penalty interest by not bringing their loans up to date.”

M + K has a few short weeks to finalise its second class action claim which must be lodged with the court by 23 November.

It has been ordered to pay Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s legal costs relating to the first failed statement of claim and DC Legal has been ordered to pay the bank’s costs relating to its withdrawn claim on a full indemnity basis.