A Federal Court judge’s endorsement of the novel idea of a ‘solicitors’ common fund order’ may reverse the trend of class action lawyers running to the Supreme Court of Victoria, where they can earn a contingency fee, to file their cases.
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.
Maurice Blackburn will seek $26 million in costs from a $110 million settlement in a long-running class action against AMP over its fees-for-no-service conduct, leaving more than three-quarters of the settlement to be distributed to group members.
Shareholders of failed engineering firm RCR Tomlinson have secured a $40 million settlement in a class action brought over alleged misleading ASX statements.
A judge has approved a walk-away settlement with two former directors of RCR Tomlinson in a shareholder class action against the failed engineering company.
A judge has approved a confidential settlement in a class action against KPMG and nine former Gunns Plantations directors over the failure of six managed investment schemes for eucalyptus wood in Tasmania.
Two judges on the Full Court bench hearing arguments over power to make common fund orders when approving class action settlements appeared to tip their hand on Monday, chipping away at a High Court judgment that has sowed deep division.
A class action against KPMG and nine former Gunns Plantations directors over the failure of six managed investment schemes for eucalyptus wood in Tasmania has settled for a confidential amount, with a judge poised to approve the deal.
S&P Global is fighting bids to expand a class action alleging systemic defects in its ratings systems to a new type of complex financial product and to include allegations from a US Department of Justice case in a separate suit by two Cayman Islands-based companies.
The divisive issue of whether judges are empowered to make a common fund order to distribute the costs of a funding commission at the settlement stage of a class action is headed back to the Full Federal Court next week.