Derek Wong

Bayer told a jury that clinical trials from the 1990’s to 2014 showed its Essure birth control device was “safe and efficacious”, as the pharmaceutical giant faces trial in a class action by patients who claim they suffered debilitating injuries from the device.

Pharmaceutical giant Bayer cannot write off debilitating chronic pain and bleeding which patients allegedly experienced after being implanted with Essure contraceptives as “common women's symptoms”, a court has heard in the first day of trial in a long-running class action.

Shine Lawyers can deduct 50 per cent of its fees and all of its costs from a $300 million settlement in pelvic mesh class actions against Johnson & Johnson while a judge mulls whether the law firm's total bill is fair and reasonable.

A judge has approved a $300 million settlement in two pelvic mesh class actions against Johnson & Johnson and unit Ethicon -- the largest settlement in the history of Australian product liability group proceedings -- but a $100 million deduction for legal costs has yet to get the greenlight. 

A judge has approved a $12 million payment to the funder of two franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven, even as the funder plans to appeal a decision rejecting its bid for a common fund order for a $24.5 million commission.

A class action against Bayer over its Essure device has won court approval to add new allegations, including that the contraceptive caused sexual dysfunction, with a judge finding the new claims could not have taken the German drug maker by surprise.

A class action filed on behalf of women injured by allegedly defective pelvic mesh products has reached a settlement with the insurer of defunct device maker TFS Manufacturing.

Sixteen law firms and accounting firms have thrown their hat in the ring to administer a $300 million settlement in two class actions against Johnson & Johnson over pelvic mesh devices that injured thousands of women.

A contradictor appointed in two pelvic mesh class actions against Johnson & Johnson has blasted a $300 million settlement, calling it “massively” short of what is owed to group members, after a judge preliminarily found the sum was not fair and reasonable.

The High Court killed off all common fund orders, not just the kind sought at the start of a class action, a judge has said as he cut in half the payout for a litigation funder bankrolling two franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven.