A union has partially won a bid to exclude thousands of current and former members from a class action against McDonald’s, after losing a challenge that sought to ban all Fair Work group proceedings.
Ten wants to stay a sex discrimination claim brought by journalist Tegan George in light of separate personal injury proceedings seeking damages from the broadcaster over PTSD allegedly caused by reporting from the 2019-2020 bushfires.
The Full Federal Court has answered a question vexing the court for the past four years, ruling that class action judges have the power to make common fund orders at settlement that allow litigation funders to reap a percentage commission beyond their contractual entitlement.
The Full Federal Court’s finding that the High Court did not extinguish the power of judges to make common fund orders on approval of class action settlements is the latest milestone in the evolution of Australian class action jurisprudence, experts say.
A judge has declined a union’s bid to throw out an employee class action against McDonald’s after the Full Federal Court confirmed that employee class actions are not precluded by the Fair Work Act.
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.
The question of whether judges have the power to hear employment cases as representative proceedings is headed to the Full Court after a union raised the issue as it battles to have its underpayments case against McDonald’s run instead of a Shine Lawyers class action.
A judge is weighing up a law firm’s high legal costs against a union’s “bizarre” delay in a stoush over who should run a case against McDonald’s alleging 100,000 workers were denied rest breaks.
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.
Network Ten has fired back at journalist Tegan George’s reworked sex discrimination case, claiming that its alleged failure to prevent a “sexually hostile, demeaning and oppressive” culture was not unlawful under the Fair Work Act.