The applicants in a shareholder class action against the former Freedom Foods have failed in a bid to cross-examine Noumi’s inhouse counsel on affidavits swearing to the legal professional privilege of 3,000 documents, including material containing advice from accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Boston Scientific’s $105 million settlement of a class action over its pelvic mesh devices has secured court approval, but the costs billed by the law firm running the case will face further scrutiny.
Lawyerly’s Litigation Law Firms of 2022 racked up precedent-setting victories in a year that continued to see major developments in class action law.
The applicant in a Shine Lawyers-run class action against Boston Scientific over alleged defective pelvic mesh wants to switch legal representation, taking her business to Shine’s former class actions head, who recently parted ways with the firm to launch her own boutique.
After initial qualms, a judge has signed off on a $29.5 million settlement in a class action against recycling company Sims that includes a “staggering” $8.5 million in legal costs and an insurance policy buffering the funder from adverse costs.
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.
A judge has thrown out a long-running class action on behalf of 20 local councils in NSW alleging insurer JLT Risk Solutions charged them hundreds of millions of dollars in excessive premiums over nine years.
A judge has signed off on a group costs order in a shareholder class action against food company Noumi and auditor Deloitte guaranteeing group members a return of at least 78 per cent, but noted the law firms’ cut may need to be reviewed to avoid a “disproportionate return”.
Lendlease and other major builders have secured a significant victory in a long-running case brought by the liquidators of failed engineering company Hastie Group, with a judge saying Hastie wasn’t entitled to the proceeds of bank guarantees withdrawn by the builders when it collapsed 10 years ago.
Two class action firms have refused to provide an undertaking that would fix the rate of their contingency fee in a consolidated shareholder class action against food company Noumi and auditor Deloitte over $590 million in accounting irregularities.