Maurice Blackburn widen fees class action

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers filed a further claim in the Federal Court against Westpac yesterday.

The new claim, on top of one lodged late last year, relates to customers of Westpac's St George and Bank SA brands with regard to various exception fees. The law firm has 10,500 of the bank's customers signed up for this additional action.

The latest claim expands the bank fees class action, which was launched in September 2010, to seven financial institutions, on behalf of 160,000 customers.

Westpac is in the unusual position of facing separate claims against it and against its subsidiary brands.

Maurice Blackburn, the senior associate Paul Gillett, said the reason for this course of action was that the St George and Bank SA products had different terms and conditions to Westpac products, and this raised different issues to those in the claim against Westpac.

The claimants allege that the fees are penalties and that they are excessive, unconscionable and contrary to various statutory provisions.

In December, the Federal Court made a ruling in the ANZ case, finding that only one fee, a credit card late payment fee, was capable of being characterised as a penalty. The other four fees were honour fees, dishonour fees, overlimit fees and non-payment fees.

Maurice Blackburn has applied to the High Court for leave to appeal that decision. A ruling on the leave application has not yet been made.

Despite the Federal Court ruling, Maurice Blackburn has included "the full breadth" of fees in its latest claim.