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A fight between three leading class action firms over who will lead a potentially lucrative shareholder class action against construction giant Boral is back on, after the High Court pressed go on class action beauty parades.
Payouts in class actions in 2020 largely kept pace with the previous year despite the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, with companies and other defendants paying more than $696 million to settle class actions last year.
Properties near seven air force bases where allegedly toxic firefighting foam was used experienced a drop in land value because of the "stigma" of contamination, according to an expert report accepted by the Federal Court in a class action seeking compensation from the Federal government.
Construction giant Boral must now contend with three class actions by shareholders alleging it failed to disclose financial problems with its US windows business, but the cases will stay on ice pending a High Court challenge.
A judge has pushed off a heated contest between law firms vying to lead a shareholder class action against construction giant Boral for what could be a year as a landmark High Court challenge plays out.
A judge on Friday dismissed Westpac's bid for an update from litigation funder JustKapital as to whether it continues to financially back a class action against the bank over allegedly excessive insurance premiums.
Two law firms that filed competing shareholder class actions against construction giant Boral have asked the court to permanently stay the other's proceeding, after the judge overseeing the matter said he might wait until the High Court's ruling on the AMP class action beauty parade before deciding which class action should move forward.
Shine Lawyers has been given the go ahead to use two reports produced in three settled PFAS class actions as evidence in its latest case over the Defence Department's firefighting foam, with a judge saying any implied undertaking not to re-use the material lost force when the information became public.
A judge has scolded the law firms behind competing shareholder class actions against Boral for delaying progress of the proceedings, but may wait until the High Court's ruling on the AMP class action beauty parade before deciding which of three potential class actions should move forward.
The judge overseeing three class actions against the Commonwealth over its use of allegedly toxic firefighting foam, which have settled for $212.5 million, said backing by a litigation funder led to a better outcome for group members, who would otherwise have been in the disadvantaged position of "supplicants requesting compensation".