David Townsend

The plaintiffs in two competing class actions against Mercedes-Benz over alleged defeat devices designed to cheat regulatory emissions tests have agreed to temporarily stay the first-filed proceeding so that one filed over a year later can go ahead, a court has heard. 

A judge has set aside subpoenas in a class action against Mercedes-Benz over alleged emissions cheating seeking material to identify group members and clarify the composition of the class, finding they were not issued for a legitimate forensic purpose.

A law firm that lost a contest to run a class action against Toyota unit Hino has appealed a decision to give the case to a larger rival based on past experience, saying the ruling would act as a deterrent to smaller firms wanting to enter the market for group proceedings.

A judge has awarded carriage of a class action against Toyota unit Hino to Maurice Blackburn, finding that the law firm’s experience and resources trumped those of small personal injury firm Gerard Malouf & Partners, despite its alliance with a large US firm. 

Personal injury law firm Gerard Malouf & Partners has hit back at Maurice Blackburn’s challenge to its class action experience in a fight for carriage of a class action against a Toyota unit, saying the top US firm it has partnered with to run the case trumped the major Australian plaintiff firm “on every conceivable dimension”.

Despite a judge’s complaint that class action costs are generally “out of control”, the law firm that secured a $192.5 million settlement and earned about $25 million in fees in the Montara oil spill case has won approval for more fees — these ones incurred in a hearing to determine how the settlement spoils should be divided.

A judge overseeing a $192.5 million settlement in an oil spill class action against PTTEP Australia on behalf of Indonesian seaweed farmers has balked at the “very large” costs sought by Maurice Blackburn for administering the deal, expressing concerns that class action costs are “getting out of control”.

The law firm that ran a class action over the 2009 Montara oil spill must compete to administer a $192.5 million settlement, with a judge saying a tendering process is consistent with the court’s “protective and supervisory role” in managing costs deducted from class action settlements.

A judge has largely approved the funder’s commission and legal fees to be deducted from a $192.5 million settlement of a class action against oil company PTTEP, despite the costs halving the amount to go to group members.