A court has granted a request from Grosvenor Litigation Services, the funder that backed two class actions against Volkswagen over its emissions cheating scandal, to suppress the details of a co-funding agreement with Vannin Capital.
Supermarket giant Coles has been hit with a class action after revealing in February that it owes staff in its supermarket and liquor businesses at least $20 million in pay.
The Federal Court’s, albeit not total, approval of common fund orders, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the likely approval of contingency fees in Victoria mean that, more than ever, litigation funders and plaintiff law firms will be on the lookout for class actions, says Alex Haslam of Gilchrist Connell.
Medical device giant Johnson & Johnson has confirmed it will not seek the recusal of a Federal Court judge from a panel overseeing its pelvic mesh class action appeal, despite earlier raising concerns that he had seen privileged settlement communications.
Power distributor Essential Energy has appealed a judgment granting preliminary discovery to landowners to pursue a potential class action over the 2018 Tathra bushfire.
Petrol station convenience store chain On The Run has been hit with a class action alleging it owes more than 8,000 current and former underpaid employees up to $70 million in lost wages.
Vocational education provider Box Hill Institute is facing a class action brought by disgruntled students who allege the licences they obtained through the institute did not provide them with the requisite knowledge or training to obtain a commercial pilots licence.
A judge has found that the High Court’s landmark ruling last year blocking common fund orders in the early stages of a class action also barred them from being made at the conclusion of a proceeding, departing from several recent rulings on common fund orders.
The settlement sum in three class actions against law firms that allegedly gave negligent advice about property investments in the now-defunct Ralan Group has been suppressed, after the court heard there was a risk of future claims being brought.
After almost five years before the courts, a judge has approved an approximately $120 million settlement of five class actions against Volkswagen over the diesel emissions scandal, including a “very substantial” $43 million in fees and disbursements for one of the plaintiffs firms.