The law firm administering the $112 million Robodebt class action settlement has asked a court to sign off on a $2.2 million bill to cover the full projected costs of distributing the funds, a figure three times the estimate calculated by a costs referee.
The Morrison government has rejected class action claims that it owes a duty of care to Torres Strait Islanders to protect them against the negative effects of climate change, claiming the alleged duty cannot apply to high level government policy.
A judge overseeing a climate change class action against the government will be invited to visit the Torres Strait to see the alleged erosion of sacred sites, but before then the Commonwealth is seeking details on when it allegedly knew of the effects of global warming and the scope of its alleged duty of care.
Approving coal mine projects is not the business of courts, the Morrison government has argued in its challenge to a landmark class action judgment that found it had a duty of care to protect Australian children from the effects of climate change.
While acknowledging it was a ‘loaded’ word, a judge has rejected a bid by the federal government to edit out the word ‘stolen’ from a notice to members of the third stolen wages class action brought by Shine Lawyers.
The Commonwealth says a landmark ruling in a class action that found it has a duty of care to protect Australian children from the effects of global warming is “incoherent” and distorts its ability to balance competing interests.
Dixon Advisory has agreed to pay a $7.2 million penalty after admitting to ASIC’s allegations that it failed to act in its clients’ best interests on 53 occasions.
The federal Minister for the Environment has lost a bid to declass a class action brought over climate change risks from an expansion of the Whitehaven coal mine, with a judge making a declaration that the government owes a duty to all Australian children to protect them from global warming.
Describing the federal government’s income-averaging debt collection program as a “shameful chapter”, a judge has approved a $112 million settlement in the Robodebt class action, saying the agreement was fair and reasonable.
Class actions are the next battleground following Thursday’s Federal Court ruling that the government owes a duty of care to protect children from the risks of climate change, according to a number of legal experts.