Boxun Yin

A judge has approved a settlement in a shareholder class action against livestock exporter Wellard that grants a 34 per cent cut for group members, saying that investors had agreed to the lawyers and funder receiving the “lion’s share”. 

A shareholder class action against livestock exporter Wellard is seeking approval for a $23 million settlement which will see only $7.86 million go to group members, telling the court that the funder and law firm that ran the case have agreed to take a haircut on the deductions they’re entitled to.

Telstra has won its bid to vacate a hearing in a case by former contractor Kingfisher Mobile seeking to bar the telco from migrating customers to a new mobile services provider, after a judge found Kingfisher’s delay in filing the case meant meeting the date would be unfair. 

Telstra will oppose a bid by former contractor Kingfisher Mobile to bar the telco from migrating customers to a new mobile services provider, saying that undoing the move would be like “turning around the Titanic”. 

Kingfisher Mobile, which provides mobile services to Telstra customers, has taken the telecommunications giant to court for allegedly breached its contractual obligations when it engaged a new provider to take over from Kingfisher.

The High Court will hear a $130 million case by two contractors on Chevron’s Gorgon gas field project, which argue the Western Australia Court of Appeal was outside power to uphold a ruling that set aside its arbitration win.

The Full Federal Court has answered a question vexing the court for the past four years, ruling that class action judges have the power to make common fund orders at settlement that allow litigation funders to reap a percentage commission beyond their contractual entitlement. 

The Full Federal Court’s finding that the High Court did not extinguish the power of judges to make common fund orders on approval of class action settlements is the latest milestone in the evolution of Australian class action jurisprudence, experts say.

A judge has declined a union’s bid to throw out an employee class action against McDonald’s after the Full Federal Court confirmed that employee class actions are not precluded by the Fair Work Act. 

With bated breath class action litigators and funders have waited for this day, when the Full Federal Court decides the question of power to make common fund orders at settlement. They aren’t the final arbiters, but the judges’ ruling may be no less important for that.