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 approved a $40 million settlement in a shareholder class action against collapsed engineering firm RCR Tomlinson, with almost half of the settlement to go towards a funder’s commission and legal fees.
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”.
While it was unfair for a judge to pick Gilbert + Tobin to run a class action against Jaguar Land Rover on the condition that it lower its funding rate, the judge was entitled to consider the law firm’s experience in a similar case against Toyota, an appeals court has said in its reasons.
A decision awarding carriage to Gilbert + Tobin in a class action against Jaguar Land Rover on the condition that it lower its funding rate lacked procedural fairness, the Full Court has found, prompting the firm to team up with its competitor to run the case.
Defunct investment firm Blue Sky has denied a class action’s claims that it misled shareholders ahead of its 2019 collapse and has pointed the finger at auditor EY.
Weeks after giving the thumbs up to common fund orders at settlement, the Full Federal Court has been asked to decide whether judges have power to order payment of a commission to class action solicitors — not just funders.
The High Court has agreed to weigh in on how damages for reduction in value should be calculated under the Australian Consumer Law, granted competing special leave applications in a class action against Toyota over defective diesel filters.
Gilbert + Tobin and the funder backing a class action against Jaguar Land Rover over allegedly defective diesel filters have given an undertaking that they won’t seek more than 25 per cent of any settlement or judgment, sealing the deal to run the case after triumphing in a carriage contest.