Uren v RMBL Investments Ltd [2019] FCA 1163

Uren v RMBL Investments Ltd [2019] FCA 1163

Given RMBL's admitted telephone communications with class members about the class action and opt out, the disputed evidence about whether class members were encouraged to opt out, and the Court's protective role in ensuring opt out decisions are informed and not affected by misleading or pressuring communications, it was appropriate to order a corrective letter on RMBL letterhead to accompany each opt out notice. RMBL ultimately consented, so it was unnecessary to decide whether the calls in fact encouraged opt out or whether RMBL's solicitor's letter was misleading.

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
23 May 2019
Procedural Posture
Representative Proceeding / Class Action / Application by the Applicant for a Corrective Notice to Be Distributed to Class Members Concerning Opt Out Communications
Outcome
Corrective notice ordered by consent; opt out timetable varied; RMBL ordered to pay the applicant's costs of the hearing.
Legal Topics
['opt Out Notices' 'communications With Class Members' 'corrective Notice' 'part IVA Representative Proceeding' 'collection Charges Under Loan Agreements']
['practice and Procedure' 'representative Proceedings' 'commercial and Corporations'] ['opt Out Notices' 'communications With Class Members' 'corrective Notice' 'part IVA Representative Proceeding' 'collection Charges Under Loan Agreements']

Case Brief

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Procedural Posture

Representative Proceeding / Class Action / Application by the Applicant for a Corrective Notice to Be Distributed to Class Members Concerning Opt Out Communications

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether telephone communications by RMBL with class members in relation to opt out warranted a corrective notice.' "Whether class members may have been misled, confused, pressured, urged or encouraged to opt out by RMBL's communications." 'Whether the existing opt out notice timetable and process should be varied.']

Ratio Decidendi

Given RMBL's admitted telephone communications with class members about the class action and opt out, the disputed evidence about whether class members were encouraged to opt out, and the Court's protective role in ensuring opt out decisions are informed and not affected by misleading or pressuring communications, it was appropriate to order a corrective letter on RMBL letterhead to accompany each opt out notice. RMBL ultimately consented, so it was unnecessary to decide whether the calls in fact encouraged opt out or whether RMBL's solicitor's letter was misleading.

Court Disposition

Corrective notice ordered by consent; opt out timetable varied; RMBL ordered to pay the applicant's costs of the hearing.

Orders

  • ['Each copy of the opt out notice to be distributed to class members in accordance with the orders made on 2 May 2019 shall have appended to the front of the notice a letter, on the letterhead of the First Respondent, in the form of Annexure A to the orders.' 'The orders made on 2 May 2019 be varied so that...