A fed-up judge has vented his frustration with the problem of competing class actions in a move that appears to punish the second filed case against Medibank. But is he right that the courts are increasingly being asked to deal with duplicative proceedings? And was his order really all that drastic?
One of the two remaining class actions against the Department of Defence over the use of alleged toxic firefighting foam at military bases across the country has settled for $132.7 million on the eve of trial, with the final case going back to mediation.
More class action law firms have pounced on Downer EDI’s “accounting irregularities” that led to the company overstating profits by up to $40 million.
Automotive electronics company Directed Electronics is set to claw back $3.27 million in commission payments made to a former manager through a secret side agreement with South Korean giant Hanhwa, with a ruling on damages still to come in the five-year case.
A Dutch renewable energy company has brought proceedings in the Federal Court to enforce a $472 million arbitration award against Spain over changes to its energy policies, after the country lost a similar case in the High Court.
National law firm Meridian Lawyers has nabbed two senior practitioners from McCabes for its insurance group, less than a month after luring 14 lawyers and staff from its competitor.
A judge aggrieved by the “plague” of competing class actions in the courts has temporarily stayed a second data breach class action against Medibank, and directed the health insurer to ask the privacy commissioner to drop the investigation of a third case.
A recent decision by the Federal Court that questioned whether the introduction of a serious harm test in defamation law could infringe the Judiciary Act has shone a light on the need for a federal defamation framework, legal experts say.
An appeals court has shot down funder Augusta’s challenge to a decision that cut its commission in the Opal Tower class action, putting funders on notice that they will have to marshal compelling evidence to win approval for their returns from an increasingly watchful court.
IG Markets could be hit with a second class action by investors seeking to claw back hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly lost in trading in over-the-counter derivative products known as contracts for difference.