A litigation funder has taken aim at a landmark judgment in an appeal of a ruling that found its funding arrangement with group members in a class action against Queensland energy suppliers was a managed investment scheme.
A judge has thrown out a lawsuit that argued the funding for a class action against two Queensland energy generators didn’t comply with new regulations targeting litigation funders, and said a landmark judgment that held class action funding agreements were managed investment schemes was conceptually incoherent and ripe for a Full Court challenge.
The applicants in the Queensland floods class action have asked the High Court to overturn a judgment which found dam operator Seqwater was not liable because it was functioning as a public authority when operating two dams during the 2011 floods, arguing the case raises important issues about appeals in ‘mega’ litigation.
A Federal Court judge has taken a swipe at new regulations that require class action funding arrangements to be registered as managed investment schemes, saying it was difficult to reconcile the new rules with the class action regime.
Water supplier and dam operator Seqwater has won its high-stakes challenge to a ruling finding it liable for the 2011 Queensland floods and sticking it with half the damages owed to thousands of class action members.
Dam operator Seqwater will find out this week if its decision not to settle with group members in a class action over the 2011 Queensland floods has paid off.
The funder backing a class action accusing two energy generators of gaming Queensland’s energy prices wants the Full Court to find the landmark Brookfield Multiplex ruling, which held that a litigation funding arrangement for a class action was a managed investment scheme, was wrongly decided.
A judge has awarded four sample group members in the Queensland floods class action $1.28 million in compensation, finding that charitable payments did not affect the amount of interest payable on the damages they are owed.
A $440 million settlement by the State of Queensland and dam operator Sunwater resolving a class action over the 2011 Queensland floods has been approved by a NSW judge.
The law firm behind a long-running class action over the 2011 floods in Queensland which reached a $440 million partial settlement last month has estimated that its legal bill to date totals around $60 million.