If it takes up the Federal Court’s ruling in favour of solicitors seeking to earn a cut from a class action, the High Court will be asked to overrule its 2019 decision against common fund orders.
Captain Cook College and its COO will attempt to reach an agreement on penalty with the ACCC after the High Court knocked back their appeal of a systemic unconscionable conduct finding.
BlueScope Steel is seeking to overturn a record $57.5 million penalty for engaging in attempted price-fixing with flat steel distributors, telling an appeals court that it was simply trying to make its competitors understand “it was in their interests to price differently”.
The High Court has rejected an appeal by Captain Cook College of a finding that it engaged in systemic unconscionable conduct by enrolling thousands of unsuitable students, finding courts are not constrained by factors the consumer law says it “may consider” in deciding if conduct rises to the level of unconscionability.
The High Court has taken up the ACCC’s boycott case against builder J Hutchinson and the controversial construction union, an appeal that gives the court the chance to clarify the standard for proving an anti-competitive arrangement.
The High Court has been asked to overturn a Full Court decision finding lawyers can take a cut from a class action settlement under a solicitors’ common fund order and to finally settle the question of whether the court has the power to issue common fund orders at all.
Lawyers are allowed to take a cut from a class action settlement or judgment under a so-called solicitors’ common fund order, the Full Federal Court has ruled, saying they are a permissive use of the court’s power.
A judge has ordered SkyCity to pay a $67 million penalty in AUSTRAC’s case alleging it allowed $4 billion in suspicious transactions, finding it was an “appropriate” sum, even when compared with the $450 million fine handed to Crown last July.
Hearing arguments Tuesday on whether lawyers should be permitted to earn contingency fees in Federal Court class actions, judges on a Full Court bench appeared to lean in favour of allowing so-called solicitors’ common fund orders, rejecting claims they are “unjust”.
A court has found Qoin cryptocurrency issuer BPS Financial made false and misleading claims about its product, in a win for the corporate regulator and a likely boost for a class action against the Gold Coast-based digital currency company.