Harvey Norman hit with second class action over extended warranties
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The news: Harvey Norman has been hit with a second class action this week over allegations of misleading or deceptive conduct linked to the sale of extended warranties.
The context: The second class action, brought by Maurice Blackburn on behalf of group claimants, is filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria, where the lead claimant is based and the firm can apply for group cost orders (GCO).
A GCO allows a law firm to charge legal costs as a percentage of the amount recovered in the proceeding — either as a fixed percentage or a sliding scale. In exchange, the law firm acting for the group bringing the class claim takes on the financial risk of the costs of the proceeding.
On Wednesday, law firm Echo Law announced a similar case, which it has lodged before the Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne.
Maurice Blackburn commenced a similar case in late 2023 against JB Hi-Fi.
What they said: “The class action will allege that if Harvey Norman’s customers knew that product care was offering remedies that they already had for free under the Australian Consumer Law, they would not have bought it," Maurice Blackburn principal Jarrah Ekstein said.
"Those customers should be compensated for being misled into buying a warranty which had no real value to them."
The source: Maurice Blackburn
