The Full Federal Court has found the court’s recently-affirmed power to make common fund orders at settlement means the litigation funder that backed two class actions against 7-Eleven is entitled to a $24.5 million cut from a $98 million settlement, in a decision that slammed the parties for a settlement approval process that “went off the rails”, costing group members $2.5 million.
Five passengers who were forced off a Qatar Airways flight and strip searched at Doha International Aiport have appealed a ruling summarily tossing their claims against the airline.
A judge has summarily dismissed a case by five passengers against Qatar Airways that alleged the airline was liable for invasive examinations conducted by Qatar police after a newborn baby was found in a bin at the Doha airport. But the case is allowed to continue against subsidiary MATAR.
A bid by the law firm behind a settled class action against Hays Recruitment to increase a cap on costs to settle a spat with a litigation funder has been dashed, with a judge pulling up the firm for failing to inform the court of the funder’s claim.
A settlement of up to $1.325 million in an employment class action against labour hire firm Hays Specialist Recruitment has been approved, but a proposal by the applicant’s law firm to increase a promised limit on costs in order to resolve a row with a funder has drawn a judge’s ire.
A judge will allow the erstwhile funder of a settled underpayments class action against recruitment agency Hays to argue it should be allowed to recover against group members who signed a funding agreement several years ago, but said the claim was “not worth spending a vast amount of money on” and warned the funder against turning the case into a “circus”.
A judge hearing an appeal by a funder over its cut of a $98 million settlement in franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven has said the $12 million commission was “plainly too little”, and questioned if the class action judge had been “stuck” on the idea that common fund orders are bad.
Russia’s largest aluminium producer UC Rusal has lost a breach of contract lawsuit brought against six Rio Tinto companies after they refused to deliver alumina under a joint venture agreement on the basis that doing so would cause them to run afoul of export sanctions imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The date has been set for a hearing in the second case to test the argument that judges lack power to make a common fund order when a class action settles, and the litigation funder challenging the argument can expect a sympathetic ear.
A litigation funder whose cut of a $98 million settlement in franchise class actions against 7-Eleven was slashed in half is challenging a judge’s finding that “strong reasons” exist to refuse it a common fund order.