Despite the Morrison government’s decision to shelve its latest proposed class action reforms before the election, there are plainly competing perspectives between those in government that seek to politicise the class action regime and industry experts — including judges — about the appropriate management of class actions, writes Slater & Gordon’s Claire Pirie.
The High Court will hear a challenge by Western Power to an appeals court judgment which found that the state-owned electricity supplier breached its duty of care to inspect power poles on private land and was partly liable for property damage from the 2014 Perth Hills bushfire.
A judge overseeing a joint class action against Freedom Foods and Deloitte wants to break a bad habit among litigators of attaching to affidavits reams of correspondence between solicitors, and she has a message for legal practitioners — the court is not interested in what lawyers say to each other.
The first order allowing plaintiffs lawyers to take a cut of the proceeds of a class action will guarantee group members in a case against G8 Education at least 72.5 per cent of any recoveries — a notably higher percentage than the minimum legislated by a controversial bill before federal parliament.
AUSTRAC has expanded into investigation into Star Entertainment’s compliance with anti-money laundering laws, two months after a third law firm announced a shareholder class action investigation into the casino operator on the back of damning media reports.
Bayer has lost its bid to redact the names and contact details of potential group members from discovered documents in a Slater & Gordon-led class action over the drug maker’s Essure contraceptive device.
A “full-blooded carriage fight” is set down for next year between two competing class actions alleging dairy giant a2 Milk misled shareholders with an overly optimistic prediction of its infant formula sales.
Group members in a class action over Bayer’s Essure contraceptives had “a ticking time bomb” in their bodies after being implanted with the devices, and all were at risk of developing injuries, a court has heard.
Saying the funding arrangement would eliminate the possibility that legal costs ate up the majority of any return to group members, a judge overseeing a shareholder case against G8 Education has issued the first ever group costs order in a class action.
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.