A former top judge appointed to decide the first-ever contest to administer a class action settlement has set out his criteria for making the choice, and has warned that giving the firm running a case a monopoly right to dole out the proceeds could lead to higher costs for group members and poorer settlement outcomes.
A judge has ordered ANZ to pay a $15 million agreed penalty in a case over more than $10 million in cash advance fees charged to the credit card accounts of hundreds of thousands of customers.
Grocon has taken a hit in its $270 million lawsuit against Infrastructure NSW over a stalled $2 billion Central Barangaroo development project, with a judge finding the developer’s CEO waived privilege over legal advice it received on the sight line rights of Lendlease and Crown.
Seven Network and chairman Kerry Stokes can challenge a ruling allowing Fairfax to access thousands of “deeply personal” emails sent to and from former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith during his defamation case.
A judge has expressed his preliminary view that cases brought in Queensland cannot be thrown out where the costs of the claims are disproportionate to their importance, allowing a defamation case by entrepreneur Robert McVicker against the ABC to proceed.
Subpoenas granting Fairfax access to thousands of emails to and from former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, represent “a very real and profound intrusion into private affairs,” a court has heard.
A judge has ordered National Australia Bank to pay just one-fifth the $10 million penalty proposed by ASIC for overcharging customer fees, taking aim at the regulator’s concise pleading and saying the maximum penalty he could order was “woefully inadequate”.
A judge has approved a common fund order awarding $6.88 million to the funder behind a class action against Fonterra that settled for $25 million, opting not to wait for a much-anticipated appeals court ruling on the power to make CFOs at settlement.
The winning, 14 per cent contingency fee proposal by Slater & Gordon in a fight to run a class action against Star Entertainment was not driven by a desire to prevail in the contest and buy market share but was the product of a “reasoned decision” that took into account the law firm’s practice as a whole, a judge has found.
A judge has asked why the union representing Qantas workers did not bring a class action on behalf of 1,700 ground crew who were sacked during the COVID-19 pandemic, as he ordered the airline’s new CEO to attend settlement talks after losing its High Court appeal.