While the Federal Court dismissed the claims in a shareholder class action against Iluka Resouces, it would be wrong to contend, as some observers have, that the decision casts a shadow on the viability of future shareholder class actions, says Slater & Gordon senior associate Ben Zocco.
Safe Work Australia has released new national guidance on preventing and responding to workplace sexual harassment which characterises sexual harassment as a workplace hazard, known to cause psychological and physical risks to health and safety, say Lucienne Mummé and Amy Millar of Johnson Winter & Slattery.
If the Government wishes to maintain its fearmongering about the perils of the litigation funding industry, it ought to put its money where its mouth is and establish a statutory fund that would finance meritorious class actions, provide security for costs, and indemnify applicants from adverse costs orders, says Slater and Gordon’s Claire Pirie.
The Australian class action landscape has undergone significant change in the last five years and that will continue in 2021 and beyond. Chris Pagent, Brad Woodhouse, Katrina Sleiman and Thomas Scott of Corrs Chambers Westgarth have identified 10 developments the firm’s class actions team expects to see this year.
McCullough Robertson partner David Hughes shares tax administration lessons learned from Covid-19 (and promptly forgotten).
It is unrealistic to expect we will ever eliminate misconduct within corporate Australia. There will always be bad actors. Shareholder class actions are one mechanism that can be deployed to reign in corporate misconduct when other safeguards have failed, says Andrew Saker of Omni Bridgeway.
Despite the scarcity of shareholder proceedings relating to climate change disclosures to date, they are likely to flow as the impact of climate change begins to bite, says Claire Pirie of Slater and Gordon.
The current Parliamentary Inquiry presents an opportunity to undertake a comprehensive review of corporate Australia’s disclosure obligations to identify permanent reforms with a view to striking an appropriate balance between the disclosure obligations of listed entities and the consequences that can flow from getting the disclosure wrong, say Belinda Thompson and Natalie Oliver of Allens.
One out of every five class actions filed to date in Australia have been public sector class actions, with Commonwealth, State and Territory governments paying out a combined $1.1 billion in these matters, according to Professor Vince Morabito of Monash Business School.
Critics of securities class actions – and the role of litigation funders in enabling them – claim they are doing untold damage to the economy and to listed companies, stifling innovation and discouraging our best and brightest from joining boards. Their criticism is based on emotion rather than evidence, says Andrew Saker of Omni Bridgeway.