The applicants in a class action over exposure to allegedly toxic foam used on a government military base have struck back at the Commonwealth of Australia’s argument that their claims were filed too late.
A challenge to the legality of common fund orders, an appeal to the High Court over the power of judges to stay competing cases, one of the first judgments in a shareholder class action and reform proposals promise to make 2019 another action-packed year in class actions. Here, experts give their predictions for the class action landscape this year.
Last year was an exciting one for class action lawyers, with monumental court decisions on competing cases, cross-jurisdictional spats, proportionality in settlements and the power of judges to decide how a recovery is distributed. Here, top class action litigators tell us what the most significant rulings of 2018 were and why the decisions will continue to matter this year.
Johnson & Johnson unit Ethicon is seeking a class closure order in the pelvic mesh class action, as the company prepares to enter mediation.
And then there were four. Plaintiffs law firm Slater & Gordon wants to consolidate its AMP shareholder class action with Maurice Blackburn’s case and hand over the reins to its rival, a deal signed the day the Full Federal Court affirmed the power of judges to shut down competing class actions.
The showdown between five law firms vying to lead a class action over the AMP fees for no service scandal kicked off in the NSW Supreme Court Thursday with counsel for one case saying the contest, although costly and consuming, would ultimately be a win for all class action participants.
AMP’s advice executive Jack Regan, the witness who aired the firm’s fees-for-no-service dirty laundry at the Royal Commission, has retired, a day before five law firms compete to lead a class action over the scandal.
Shareholders who registered for a class action against mining company MacMahon Holdings will get a $2.4 million cut of a proposed $6.7 million settlement, according to a notice sent to group members ahead of next week’s settlement approval hearing.
The two funders paying for a shareholder class action against facility services company Spotless Group want 25 percent of any net settlement or judgment in the case, a rate that mirrors the commission approved in a common fund order now at the centre of a constitutional challenge.
In what could be the largest employment class action ever brought, Telstra contractor Tandem Corp has been accused of unlawfully designating thousands of telecommunications technicians as independent contractors, avoiding overtime, leave and other benefits to the workers. The “sham” contracting class action, filed Wednesday by Shine Lawyers in the Federal Court, alleges Tandem, formerly ISG…