Companies and other defendants forked over big sums last year to settle more than 20 class actions, with a total of at least $734 million being paid out. Here are the top 10 class action settlements and the law firms and funders that negotiated them.
The Full Federal Court has provided clarity around additional damages in patent cases by reducing the penalties liable to be paid by an Australian fencing and gate manufacturer found to have infringed a rival’s patent for a fence base.
A court has allowed a bankruptcy trustee to drop an “extremely disadvantageous” litigation funding agreement, which provided the funder with an 85 per cent commission, previously signed to pursue a Perth-based engineering and construction company.
A judge has given his seal of approval to a $29 million settlement that resolves a class action over Radio Rentals’ Rent, Try, $1 Buy scheme alleging customers were kept in the dark about the true cost of their rentals.
The High Court has granted special leave to cartridge reseller Calidad after the company lost an intellectual property dispute with printer giant Seiko Epson and was hit with a general injunction barring it from further patent infringement.
The property developers behind two Canberra apartment complexes have been dealt a partial loss in two class actions against them, with a judge finding the developers misled the lead applicants about the GST payable on their units but that only some of them were entitled to compensation or restitution.
Former senator David Leyonhjelm is appealing a ruling that socked him with a $120,000 damages bill in a defamation case brought by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, and has hired a new solicitor to bring the challenge.
A former Norton Rose Fulbright partner has lost his bid to block King & Wood Mallesons and two barristers from representing the law firm in a long-running feud over his termination, with an appeals court calling his allegations against the legal team “unfounded and misconceived”.
A settlement has been reached that brings an end to a class action against a Queensland law firm for allegedly charging personal injury clients excessive fees but does not resolve the claims of group members.
War veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has been denied access to evidence revealing the identity of confidential sources that leaked information concerning alleged war crimes in Afghanistan that were detailed in news articles at the centre of a defamation lawsuit.