Douglas Campbell

Plaintiffs in a class action against Advanta Seeds rejected a $10 million offer to settle the litigation, which was later dismissed by a judge.

Advanta Seeds has defeated a class action brought over contaminated seeds, with a court finding the Australian seed supplier did not owe a duty of care to irate farmers who allegedly suffered loss and damage from the decreased value of their sorghum crops sowed in the 2010/2011 summer season. 

A common fund order made at the outset of a class action against the state of Queensland over stolen wages opened the historic $190 million settlement up to “thousands more” disadvantaged people who were affected by the state government’s “discriminatory, unjust…and disgraceful” policies, a judge has said.

Farmers in a class action against Advanta Seeds over allegedly contaminated sorghum have defeated a bid by the company to hand over a list of all group members who have signed funding agreements to join the case.

A common fund order granting the litigation funder behind the stolen wages class action 20 per cent of a $190 million settlement remains in force after a High Court judgment that did away with such orders, a judge has found.

Companies and other defendants forked over big sums last year to settle more than 20 class actions, with a total of at least $734 million being paid out. Here are the top 10 class action settlements and the law firms and funders that negotiated them. 

Calling it the largest human rights case in Australia’s history, a judge has signed off on a $190 million settlement in a class action against the State of Queensland and approved the funder’s 20 per cent cut of the proceeds.

Arguing it shouldn’t be the victim of an “accident of timing”, the funder that bankrolled the landmark stolen wages class action is fighting to save a common fund order granting it 20 per cent of a $190 million settlement in the case, despite a recent High Court judgment shooting down the orders.

A hearing for approval of a $190 million settlement in a historic class action over unpaid wages to thousands of Indigenous workers has been adjourned to next month after a judge appointed a referee to scrutinise the fees charged by the law firm behind the case.

The plaintiffs in a farming class action brought against Advanta Seeds over allegedly contaminated sorghum have been denied access to the defendant’s insurance policy documents, after a judge found “significant differences” with a recently successful application in a class action against Radio Rentals.