A judgment in a heated carriage fight between three class actions against construction giant Boral provides some guidance to law firms about conduct that could potentially compromise their case for why they should be crowned the victor in a class action beauty parade.
The law firm running its class action on a no win no fee basis has been crowned the winner in a battle against two competing firms to lead a shareholder class action against construction giant Boral, in the first such judgment handed down in the wake of a High Court ruling on competing class actions.
Banking giant ANZ, which is facing a class action over a flex commissions scheme by its former car finance business, has admitted that the calculation of car dealers’ commission was aimed at encouraging loans with interest above a “base rate”.
The judge overseeing a class action against Bayer-owned Monsanto has suggested a hearing by the end of the year on the cancer risks of the company’s Roundup products, saying judgment on that question would either encourage the proceedings to settle or end the case.
The judge considering the $50 million settlement reached in the shareholder class action against failed training company Vocation and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers has signalled his likely approval of the deal, but wants a senior lawyer to tell the court why the funding commission is reasonable.
A judge has allowed Treasury Wine Estates to apply for security for costs before a group costs order application is decided, in a class action accusing the wine maker of breaching its continuous disclosure obligations.
A fight between three leading class action firms over who will lead a potentially lucrative shareholder class action against construction giant Boral is back on, after the High Court pressed go on class action beauty parades.
The law firm behind a long-running class action over the 2011 floods in Queensland which reached a $440 million partial settlement last month has estimated that its legal bill to date totals around $60 million.
A judge overseeing a class action against Bayer-owned Monsanto over its allegedly carcinogenic weedkiller, Roundup, has declined to rule on the admissibility of expert evidence in a hearing ahead of trial next year, despite concerns about the independence of the expert witnesses for the class.
Judges have power to manage competing class actions by picking a winner in a so-called beauty parade, the High Court has ruled, but there is no one size fits all approach to the decision, and the law firm that files first is not guaranteed the coveted prize.