Fiona McLeod

Class action settlements leaped in value last year, with three settlements topping the $200 million mark.

Funder LLS has urged the court to approve its 20 per cent cut of a $202 million settlement in a stolen wages class action, saying that reducing the “bottom end” rate could deter investments in public interest class actions.

The Commonwealth says funder LLS should not be allowed a 20 per cent cut of a stolen wages class action settlement of up to $202 million, arguing it could produce an “excessive deduction”.

A court has approved a settlement worth up to $202 million in a stolen wages class action against the government, but will hear further argument on the legal costs of the case.

Shine Lawyers wants to claim $24.5 million in legal costs in a stolen wages class action on behalf of Northern Territory First Nations people, a sum a judge called “eye watering”.

A judge has signed off on the eighth version of a class action against Sydney doctor Daniel Lanzer and several of his associates over allegedly negligent cosmetic surgeries.

The director of collapsed investment firm Linchpin Capital has lost his challenge to a $150,000 penalty, with an appeals court dismissing his arguments as “carping criticism”.

A court has held that a “nuanced” business model used by a rental company providing long-term leases to often vulnerable consumer for household items breached the Credit Act, finding the loan agreements were in substance credit contracts. Federal Court Justice Lisa Hespe found on Wednesday that Rent4Keeps attempted to avoid being caught by the Credit…

Sydney-based plastic surgeon Daniel Lanzer and several of his associates have objected to a class action’s eighth attempt at getting its claims over allegedly negligent cosmetic procedures right, saying the plaintiffs were engaged in a “continuing cycle of propagating versions” of their case.

A hearing in a class action to determine the extent of lost sales suffered by cattle exporters following a ban on live exports has been set down for April next year, making the case the oldest unresolved class action on the Federal Court docket.