A judge has opened the administration of a $300 million settlement in a pelvic mesh class action to a competitive bidding process, shortly after another judge said law firms were not uniquely qualified to distribute class action spoils.
Class action settlement sums reached new highs last year, with the ten largest agreements totalling almost $1 billion, almost half of which was secured by one plaintiff law firm.
A contradictor in two pelvic mesh class actions against Johnson & Johnson has opposed Shine Lawyers recovering $100 million in costs from a $300 million settlement, which a judge has preliminarily found is not fair and reasonable to group members.
Commonwealth Bank units CommSec and Australian Investments Exchange have been ordered to pay more than $27 million for “serious and unacceptable” system failures that led to excessive fee charges for customers.
Commonwealth Bank unit CommSec has agreed to pay a $20 million penalty for a series of “serious and unacceptable” failures that lead to excessive fee charges, a court has heard.
A judge has ordered the ACCC to pay the State of NSW’s costs in its failed proceeding against NSW Ports, finding that even though the consumer watchdog did not initially sue the state government that it was a “necessary and proper” party to the case.
Lawyerly’s Litigation Firms of 2020 delivered significant victories for clients last year in bet-the-company matters, thriving in a tumultuous year that saw courts and litigants adapt to virtual trials and other new norms that are sure to outlast the COVID-19 pandemic.
An appeals court has declined to dismiss an international law firm’s appeal of a ruling staying its case against a former director who formed a breakaway law firm with a former Freehills partner and Westpac in-house counsel and lured away lucrative oil and gas clients.
Employsure has made an eleventh hour courtroom bid to access documents held by the Fair Work Ombudsman, just days before trial is due to commence in ACCC proceedings alleging the workplace relations company engaged in unconscionable conduct towards small business clients.
The liquidators of defunct stockbroker Halifax are justified in their decision to refrain from realising existing investments over the protests of some investors, until substantive issues in the liquidation are resolved, a court has directed.