A court has delayed a hearing on a bid by the applicant in a class action against Dixon Advisory to freeze a $7.2 million penalty secured by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission against the self-managed superfund provider so the corporate regulator can consider its position on the request.
The federal government’s latest class action reform bill that would effectively cap legal fees and funding commissions has narrowly passed the House of Representatives.
The lawyers and funder behind a shareholder class action against Crown Resorts will be asking the court to approve fees and commission worth 35 per cent of a $125 million settlement with the gaming giant, leaving over $81 million for group members.
Dairy giant a2 Milk has been hit with a second class action alleging it misled shareholders by providing an overly rosy forecast for its infant formula sales.
Hospitality giant Merivale has streamlined its defence of a $129 million underpayment class action, arguing that it shouldn’t be expected to back pay employees because it operated its business under the mistaken belief that its enterprise agreement governing staff at 70 of its venues was valid.
South Australian Power Networks has reportedly agreed to pay $2.25 million to settle a class action brought by the victims of the 2019 Yorketown bushfire.
Supermarket chain Romeo’s has reached a settlement in two class actions alleging staff were underpaid, but details of the agreements are scant.
A judge has directed that the legal fees and funding commission sought to be deducted from a $125 million class action settlement with Crown Resorts be included in a proposed notice to shareholders, after learning that group members were forced to click through to Maurice Blackburn’s website to find the “critical” figures.
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 committee report recommending passage of the Morrison government’s controversial class action reform bill was tabled in federal parliament Monday, with the committee’s chair touting the proposed legislation as putting an end to funders’ “windfall” profits and Labor panning the bill as a study in “Orwellian gaslighting”.