Courts stepped up their scrutiny of class action settlements in 2022, with judges grappling with difficult issues such as funding commissions in employment cases and whether settlements, even those worth hundreds of millions of dollars, were fair to group members.
Regenerative medicine company Mesoblast has hit back at a shareholder class action over its Remestemcel-L treatment for COVID-19, saying that some group members are barred from bringing claims because of a settlement reached in a US class action.
In one of the first cases to test a new ‘serious harm’ threshold for defamation matters, a judge has knocked back a NSW house painterâs defamation case over a one star Google review, saying that people would consider âunflatteringâ business reviews to be expressions of personal opinion.Â
A full bench of the Fair Work Commission has overturned a ruling that a Virgin Australia flight attendant was unfairly sacked, finding she breached the airlineâs policies by sleeping on the job and stashing snacks in her crew bag.
Thomson Geer has lured a long-standing partner from Adelaide firm Finlaysons to lead its banking and finance team after its former banking head partner decided to end his 40-year stint with the firm.
Nine Entertainment and Marcus Bastiaan have reached a settlement which includes a contribution to legal costs but no damages in a defamation case over a 60 Minutes segment accusing the former Liberal powerbroker of branch stacking.
An investor class action against RCR Tomlinson has reached a walk-away settlement agreement with two former directors of the failed engineering company.
The NSW government has struck back at a class action over allegedly unlawful police strip searches at 50 music festivals, saying the state is immune from personal injury claims because police officers had a reasonable suspicion group members were in possession of illegal drugs.Â
Hyundai and Kia are facing âmassive compensation claimsâ by hundreds of thousands of car owners over allegedly defective anti-lock braking systems said to render some of the manufacturersâ most popular models potential fire hazards.
The fate of 25 unfair dismissal claims by former DP World employees hangs in the balance after the Fair Work Commission ruled that the stevedoring company failed to consult its workers about its COVID-19 vaccination policy.