If evidence were needed that courts are not rubber stamping class action settlements, the scrutiny of multi-million dollar agreements in 2021 is proof positive that judicial oversight of representative proceedings is robust.
Class action settlement totals skyrocketed to over $900 million last year, and one law firm negotiated the lion’s share, with $672 million in settlements under its belt.
Lawyerly will be closed from December 24 until January 10.
A litigation funder has told a Senate committee that class action reforms that purport to protect group members by guaranteeing them at least 70 per cent of litigation proceeds is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” that will make it harder to bring claims.
The ABC has resolved a discrimination lawsuit brought by a reporter who claimed she developed a medical condition as a result of being overworked.
Gilbert + Tobin senior partner Gina Cass-Gottlieb has been nominated to become the first female chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
An appeals court has found it “inconceivable” that legislation aimed at protecting public health would not have afforded the New South Wales health minister the power to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for certain workers, given the outbreak of the Delta strain of the coronavirus.
Hall & Wilcox is strengthening its presence in Western Australia with the appointment of three lawyers nabbed from the now-closed commercial law firm Kott Gunning.
More than 18 months after a split emerged among the courts, the Full Federal Court will weigh in on whether judges have power to shut out unregistered group members from a class action. But given the breadth of the question for the appeals court, the issue is unlikely to be resolved there.
Victorian workers challenging the government’s health directions requiring workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 have lost their second bid to disqualify the judge hearing the case on the ground of apprehended bias.