The Federal Government will pay $212.5 million to settle three class actions over the use of allegedly toxic firefighting foam at government military bases.
With the common fund order tossed in a class action against two IAG entities over allegedly worthless add-on insurance, a Federal Court judge on Tuesday was asked to grapple with a practice note in determining when to notify group members of a possible order to “equitably and fairly” distribute the legal costs and funding commission in the proceedings.
Livestock exporter Wellard is facing a shareholder class action over a profit downgrade following its $300 million initial public offering in 2015.
International passengers from five countries have been given the go-ahead to join a class action alleging travel agency Scenic Tours owes damages to European cruise passengers forced to take buses when heavy rain flooded waterways to include.
A judge has ordered Johnson & Johnson to include a graphic warning on the patient information leaflets and instructions for use that accompany four of its pelvic mesh products, following a class action over the devices which saw the three lead applicants awarded $2.6 million in damages.
While the recommendations of three previous inquiries stay shelved, Attorney General Christian Porter has announced another examination into Australia’s class action regime, a move panned as purely political by at least one leading practitioner.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn has taken legal action on behalf of a sports club which missed out on funding from a $100 million grants program, in what could be a test case for other clubs that lost out because of the so-called ‘sports rorts’ affair.
Litigation funder Augusta Ventures has had its appeal of a groundbreaking ruling that put it on the hook for security for costs in a Fair Work class action pushed back by three months after a delayed case management hearing, with a Federal Court judge telling the parties they were to blame.
As Victoria looks set to pass legislation allowing law firms to cut litigation funders out of class action work, and the High Court increases the risks of financing group proceedings, funders operating in Australia have been forced to think on their feet to adapt to the ever-changing regime. Australia’s largest litigation funder IMF Bentham is no exception, CEO Andrew Saker told Lawyerly.
A judge has signed off on a $2 million payout for Maddens Lawyers in a class action against electricity provider Powercor over a 2018 St Patrick’s Day bushfire in Victoria that settled last year for $17.5 million, despite finding that the law firm’s cost agreement with group members was void.