The access to justice and efficiency objectives of the 30-year class action regime would be better served by more active scrutiny at the point of commencement, say Allens partners Belinda Thompson and Jenny Campbell.
A judge has come down hard on a settlement in class actions against supermarket chain Romeo’s, saying group members had been kept in the dark and the costs to be paid to the plaintiffs’ firm did not add up.
A class action settlement with Woolworths which “troubled” a Federal Court judge has been abandoned, with the lead applicants resuming their bid to intervene in a parallel proceeding brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman against the supermarket giant.
As we reach the 30-year anniversary of the modern form of class action in Australia, an enduring characteristic of class action practice in this country is that the area is not well-suited to those who enjoy certainty or predictability, say Jason Betts, Aoife Xuereb and Melissa Gladstone-Joyce of Herbert Smith Freehills.
Three decades on from its rocky beginnings, when representatives of the coalition opposition decried the Part IVA bill as a “monstrosity” and as “looney”, “half baked” and “wrong” during parliamentary debates, the class action procedure and its legitimacy and efficacy have come to gain acceptance across the spectrum of practitioners and among the judiciary, says Maurice Blackburn’s Julian Schimmel.
ANZ has hit back at claims in a class action that it slugged retrospective interest on credit card accounts and that its interest terms were not explicit, arguing the term ‘retrospective’ is liable to “confuse” the issues to be decided by the court.
A judge will approve a $28 million settlement resolving a class action against Arnold Bloch Leibler over advice the law firm gave to Slater & Gordon ahead of a disastrous acquisition. A 28 per cent commission for the case’s funder will also get the court’s nod.
Mitsubishi has denied class action allegations that it made misleading fuel efficiency representations on labels affixed to the windshields of over 70,000 Triton Utes, and says it can’t be sued under the Australian Consumer Law because the labels were required by law.
Over the last 30 years, the class action regimes have undoubtedly improved access to justice, helped to resolve disputes more efficiently, and reduced the costs of litigation. While the current spotlight on the role of litigation funding and returns to group members is warranted, other aspects of the regimes are ripe for reform, say Clayton Utz partners Greg Williams, Andrew Morrison, Alexandra Rose and senior associate Will Atfield.
Lawyers behind a scheme to defraud members of a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities have offered $10.6 million to resolve a case that has put them on the hook for at least double that sum.