David Batt

Class action settlements hit major milestones last year, with the year’s largest settlements totalling $1.6 billion and one case resolving for a historic $548.5 million.

Grand Ridge Plantations has lost an appeal seeking to halve the official valuation of its Gippsland timber forest, with a court finding that the trees on the land must be included in its assessed value.

The funder of a class action over the Morrison government’s Robodebt scheme will seek a 15 per cent commission at an upcoming settlement approval hearing, a court has heard, after the case settled for a record $548.5 million. 

The High Court has rejected a special leave application by the owners of land acquired to build a Melbourne freeway that sought to overturn an "erroneous" appeals court decision which left them with $2 million for land worth over $30 million.

Japan-based Mitsui has sued Esso Australia and Woodside Energy, its partners in the Kipper gas field in the Bass Strait, disputing their claims that it owes $298 million in taxes and alleging it overpaid fees to the tune of $20.3 million. 

A judge has ordered Adina West Melbourne to pay $2.3 million to Trenerry's West End LandCo, including $1 million in unpaid rent, despite finding COVID-19 lockdowns were a force majeure event under the lease.

Funeral insurer ACBF has been hit with a $3.5 million penalty for “callous” and “egregious” misrepresentations to Indigenous customers that its business was Aboriginal owned or managed.

The owners of land acquired to build a Melbourne freeway have asked the High Court to overturn an "erroneous" appeals court decision which left them with $2 million for land worth over $30 million, saying the case raises important questions about the Land Acquisition and Compensation Act. 

A judge has OK'd a settlement in a class action against Treasury Wine Estates, along with $27 million in fees charged by Maurice Blackburn and Slater & Gordon, after initially questioning the difference between the firms' rates.

The Valuer-General of Victoria has won a High Court appeal against developer WSTI Properties over a $2.9 million valuation for a heritage property in Melbourne, which centred on the meaning of an “improvement” to the land.