Two heavyweight plaintiff firms battled it out Friday to run a shareholder class action against Beach Energy, with Shine Lawyers saying it should be rewarded for setting the price of the contingency fees sought in the case and Slater & Gordon arguing it has a better track record in class actions.
Star Entertainment Group has been hit with a shareholder class action for allegedly painting itself as the “cleanskin” of the gambling industry despite alleged lax compliance and links to money laundering and organised crime, amid a damning public inquiry by the gambling regulator that has led to the resignation of its CEO.
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.