A judge will not allow a law firm that stepped in to lead class actions against Hyundai and Kia to amend its funding proposal to seek a group costs order ahead of a carriage fight, even though its proposal would have led to greater returns for group members.
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”.
A class action against BPS Financial may abandon some claims after a judge found in a separate case brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission that the Qoin cryptocurrency issuer made false and misleading claims about its product.
A New South Wales developer’s competition case against NSW Ports over a ports privatisation agreement looks bound for the High Court after a judge found a related ACCC proceeding did not bar it from bringing the case, which will challenge a Full Court finding that the ports operator was shielded by derivative Crown immunity.
Supporting KPMG’s bid to move a class action over the collapse of Arrium from Melboure to Sydney, former directors of the failed steel company have told the High Court the Victoria Supreme Court was impermissibly preferring the policy of its state in finding a contingency fee order made in the case could be factored into a transfer application.
A judge has questioned the “independent skill and judgment” applied to the pleading in a third class action filed against International Capital Markets over risky derivative products, amid a “hot contest as to carriage and forum”.
The Full High Court will sit for the hearing of KPMG’s battle to transfer a Victoria class action to Sydney, as the applicant in the case raises a question as to the constitutional validity of the firm’s argument that the NSW Supreme Court is bound to keep a group costs order operative.
A class action against the Murray Darling Basin Authority over alleged negligent water management is seeking to claim a funder’s commission as damages after a judge refused the first-ever such bid in a separate group proceeding.
A third law firm has filed a class action against International Capital Markets, after failing to reach an agreement on joining forces with two other firms that have agreed to consolidate their competing class actions against the Sydney broker over risky contracts for difference.
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.