From a record-setting funder’s cut to the first call for ‘“proportionality”, last year saw a number of groundbreaking judgments approving class action settlements worth more than half a billion dollars. Here are the 10 biggest settlements of 2018, and the law firms and funders that negotiated them.
Actor Craig McLachlan will appear in court next month to face charges of indecent assault, four days after trial kicks off in a high-stakes defamation case brought by the actor against Fairfax Media and the ABC over a joint report accusing him of abuse, sexual harassment and assault during the 2014 stage production of the “Rocky Horror Picture Show”.
Online payment giant PayPal has successfully opposed trade mark registration sought by Australian financial planning software company FinPal, with IP Australia finding the -pal suffix to be a “striking similarity” between the two marks.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is taking a look at its program for granting leniency to cartel whistleblowers in the wake of changes that make it easier for the regulator to bring cartel cases over collusive conduct.
The applicants in a class action over exposure to allegedly toxic foam used on a government military base have struck back at the Commonwealth of Australia’s argument that their claims were filed too late.
A judge has dispensed with the opt out notice requirement in two class actions filed in administration proceedings related to the spectacular collapse of HIH Insurance.
JP Morgan, the reported whistleblower behind a criminal cartel case against ANZ, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup over a $2.5 billion share placement, has won its bid to keep documents from a related ASIC probe confidential.
Defunct financial adviser Dover Financial is seeking evidence to bolster its argument that no clients were harmed by a liability waiver that’s at the centre of a lawsuit by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has not ruled out a challenge to a ruling that two Westpac subsidiaries didn’t provide personal financial advice as part of a campaign encouraging customers to roll over external superannuation accounts.
French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has appealed a judge’s ruling denying its bid to block Alphapharm from listing an insulin injector pen on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme.