In the first-ever settlement approval hearing involving a group costs order, a contradictor has argued that Slater & Gordon should have provided the court with more information on legal costs and internal rate of return as part of its bid for a $12.8 million contingency fee.
A judge’s decision to chop $810,000 from the funder’s cut of a settled class action against Westpac sounds a warning to class action litigators that when it comes to determining the size of a commission, case budgets matter.
A $29.95 million settlement resolving a superannuation class action against two Westpac units has won court approval. The judge overseeing the case has also indicated he will OK the litigation funder’s commission but only some of its after-the-event insurance premium.
A judge has approved the discontinuance of an underpayments class action against Tandem, saying it would be “inutile” to press forward with the case after the telco contractor entered administration.
A judge overseeing a superannuation class action against two Westpac units that settled for $30 million has flagged the possibility of appointing a contradictor to examine the litigation funder’s claimed cut of the settlement, which includes a deduction of over $1 million to cover the costs of after-the-event insurance.
A judge overseeing a superannuation class action against two Westpac units that settled for $30 million has expressed concerns about the ATO’s potential involvement in distributing settlement funds, saying the department was unlikely to efficiently reunite group members with their money.
The applicant in an underpayments class action against telecommunications contractor Tandem — which has been stayed since the company entered administration — has asked a court to abandon the case.
Class action settlement sums reached new highs last year, with the ten largest agreements totalling almost $1 billion, almost half of which was secured by one plaintiff law firm.
Westpac has agreed to pay $29.95 million to settle a class action alleging subsidiaries BT Funds Management Limited and Westpac Life Insurance Services Limited charged customers excessive superannuation fees between 2007 and 2019.
Investors in Mayfair Group’s collapsed IPO Wealth Fund have clawed back only a fraction of their alleged $67 million losses after a judge approved a settlement in a class action alleging the fund’s trustee misled unit holders.