Adero Law

A judge has criticised lawyers acting in underpayments cases against Coles and Woolworths for overly lengthy submissions and a lack of cooperation, saying the dispute has gone “off the rails”. 

A class action by Sydney Trains’ operations staff, which settled for up to $7.6 million in January, will head back to the negotiating table after the registration of some 260 new group members pushed the settlement above the agreed cap.

The applicant in a class action against The Reject Shop told an appeals court Tuesday the case was always a representative proceeding despite a pleading mistake that left it empty of group members.

The Full Federal Court may need to weigh in on whether the judge overseeing an underpayments class action against the Reject Shop had the power to make an order altering the group definition.

The applicant in an underpayments class action against Wilson Security brought on behalf of fly-in-fly-out security workers wants a second opinion on a $3.05 million settlement in the case.

A class action brought by Sydney Trains’ operations staff alleging they were overworked and underpaid has settled for between $6 and $7.6 million. 

Sydney Trains has reached an in-principle agreement to settle a class action by operations staff alleging a “systemic pattern” of underpayments and overwork.

Jewellery chain Lovisa has avoided an early mediation in an underpayments class action, after slamming it as an invitation to "pay money to make the case go away”. 

Underpayments class actions against Coles and Woolworths want to expand their claims to cover a longer time period, which would leave the supermarket giants with even bigger remediation bills than the $780 million estimated in the wake of a finding that underpayments cannot be set off.

Russia has lost its High Court challenge to the federal government’s decision to terminate its lease on a site where it intended to build a new embassy in Canberra, but the court found the Commonwealth must pay the country reasonable compensation.