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A year after Commissioner Kenneth Hayne released his scathing report, companies in the financial services sector are still facing fresh class actions over conduct aired at the banking royal commission, and the pace has even picked up in recent months.
German drug company Fresenius Kadi has resolved a patent case brought by Korean drug company Samsung Bioepis over a biosimilar of top selling arthritis drug Humira.
Struggling mining firm Griffin Coal has been denied access to documents while defending a consumer law case brought by the liquidators of a collapsed mining services firm.
UK-based company Hill & Smith Holdings has won court approval to expand its patent case against Australia-based Safe Barriers Pty Ltd for allegedly infringing its patented road barrier system to include a former employee who jumped ship to the rival road safety product maker.
The lead plaintiffs in two shareholder class actions against Dick Smith can amend their case against accounting firm Deloitte, less than two months before a mammoth hearing is set to commence.
Running a law firm is not without risk, chief among them staring down a lawsuit by a client, an ex-partner or employee, even a rival firm. Last year, Australian firms faced numerous actions alleging everything from sex discrimination to negligence.
Companies and other defendants forked over big sums last year to settle more than 20 class actions, with a total of at least $734 million being paid out. Here are the top 10 class action settlements and the law firms and funders that negotiated them.
A Federal Court judge has slapped Volkswagen with a record $125 million penalty over its emissions cheating scandal after expressing outrage at a “manifestly inadequate” $75 million settlement agreement reached with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
A judge overseeing a consolidated class action against four AMP subsidiaries and two trustees over allegedly excessive superannuation fees has ordered the respondents to coordinate after the lead applicants raised concerns about duplication of work.
The applicants in a group of class actions over defective Takata airbags are pushing ahead with a challenge to the power of the NSW Supreme Court to issue class closure orders in the aftermath of a High Court decision shooting down common fund orders, a fight that could send the cases back to the High Court.