This week’s judgment referring the conduct of lawyers behind the Banksia class action to prosecutors shows the effectiveness of unique legislative provisions in Victoria that should serve as a blueprint for federal reform, says barrister and University of New South Wales adjunct professor Dr Peter Cashman.
An interlocutory decision in a class action against superannuation trustee Colonial First State Investments may have significant implications for how cases against super fund trustees are litigated in the future, says Slater & Gordonâs Jessica Zarkovic and Joel Gilbourd.
In a recent decision, the Full Federal Court confirmed that a trade mark owner who merely authorises use of its trade mark cannot be subject to liability for direct trade mark infringement under section 120(1) of the Trade Marks Act, writes Shelston IP’s Kathy Mytton and Sean McManis.
New standalone innovation patents will no longer be able to be filed after 25 August 2021. Patentees who wish to benefit from the innovation patent system must take steps to ensure that any complete application for an innovation patent or a standard complete application (from which they could divide out later) be filed on or before 25 August 2021, say James Lawrence and Dominique Blik of Mills Oakley.
Brick by brick, the claim that funded class actions are the primary driver of rising directorsâ liability insurance premiums is being dismantled. Even more precarious is the claim that the Commonwealth governmentâs continuous disclosure reforms are the answer and will result in enormous savings for Australian business, says Omni Bridgeway managing director and CEO Andrew Saker.
A record number of class actions were filed in the past year but shareholder class actions, which have been the primary target of the federal government’s attack on the class action regime, have decreased in significance, says Professor Vince Morabito.
In Wigmans v AMP the High Court will shortly deliver judgment on the vexed issue of class actions that compete to represent substantially the same class or group. Dr Michael Duffy of Monash University previews the decision.
Lawyerly will be closed from Thursday, December 24 to Thursday, January 7. We will resume regular daily publishing on Friday, January 8.
The class members in the Gladstone Fisheries class action and their funder LCM Operations have successfully upheld in the Court of Appeal a declaration confirming the enforceability of the funding agreements in the case. This is an important decision, which validates the third party funding of class actions and puts to bed any residual arguments regarding the continuing effect of the medieval torts of maintenance and champerty on class action funding arrangements, says Susanna Taylor, LCM’s head of investment, APAC.
Will we see an increase in class actions and funded litigation following the COVID-19 financial crisis similar to that following the global financial crisis? If there is an onslaught of corporate failures, including failed managed investment schemes, then such litigation seems likely to ensue. However, in the last year, Parliament and the courts have taken steps which might slow such litigious activity, says Susan Goodman of Holding Redlich.