An appeals court has dismissed a second attempt by Meta and Instagram to shut down a misuse of market power case by a Melbourne-based social media startup.
If evidence were needed that courts are not rubber stamping class action settlements, the scrutiny of multi-million dollar agreements in 2021 is proof positive that judicial oversight of representative proceedings is robust.
Class action settlement totals skyrocketed to over $900 million last year, and one law firm negotiated the lion’s share, with $672 million in settlements under its belt.
More than 18 months after a split emerged among the courts, the Full Federal Court will weigh in on whether judges have power to shut out unregistered group members from a class action. But given the breadth of the question for the appeals court, the issue is unlikely to be resolved there.
The Full Court is set to examine whether the Federal Court has the power to make class closure orders prior to mediation, weighing on one of the biggest unanswered questions vexing the class action regime.
Fearing passage of a contentious bill in parliament that threatens to curb open class actions, plaintiffs law firms and funders have raced to court with new cases in the past two weeks.
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has been hit with a class action for having “unfair” terms in its credit card contracts that allegedly gave the bank the right to charge account holders retrospective interest.
The battle to lead a shareholder class action against Nuix over its $1.8 billion initial public offering is on, with a second class action lobbed that accuses the embattled technology company and underwriter Macquarie of failing to alert shareholders to a slew of “red flags” in the business.
A judge overseeing a climate change class action against the government will be invited to visit the Torres Strait to see the alleged erosion of sacred sites, but before then the Commonwealth is seeking details on when it allegedly knew of the effects of global warming and the scope of its alleged duty of care.
A court has summarily dismissed a lawsuit accusing the Victorian government of acting unlawfully by improving the Western Highway and threatening to harm six ‘directions’ trees of cultural significance to the Djab Wurrung people.