Class action settlement approval hearings are not a time for the court to second guess a law firm’s contingency fee as set down in a group costs order, a judge has found, but the question of proportionality is still key, and evidence of a firm’s return on investment and hourly fees may be relevant to the final decision.
A judge has signed off on the first-ever settlement allowing a law firm to earn a contingency fee, approving a $12.8 million cut for Slater & Gordon in a shareholder class action against G8 Education.
A judge has made soft class closure orders in a shareholder class action against Medibank after the High Court has been asked to resolve a split on the issue by intermediate appellate courts.
In the first-ever settlement approval hearing involving a group costs order, a contradictor has argued that Slater & Gordon should have provided the court with more information on legal costs and internal rate of return as part of its bid for a $12.8 million contingency fee.
Counsel for Worley in a nine-year-old shareholder class action that is set for another Full Court appeal has foreshadowed a possible recusal application against the judges who heard the first appeal.
The liquidators of collapsed engineering company Hastie Group have lost their bid to appeal a decision that knocked out half its $120 million case against Multiplex, Lendlease and numerous other builders.
A judge has approved a settlement in a shareholder class action against livestock exporter Wellard that grants a 34 per cent cut for group members, saying that investors had agreed to the lawyers and funder receiving the “lion’s share”.
A shareholder class action against livestock exporter Wellard is seeking approval for a $23 million settlement which will see only $7.86 million go to group members, telling the court that the funder and law firm that ran the case have agreed to take a haircut on the deductions they’re entitled to.
Despite succeeding on a number of claims, the applicant in a tortuous shareholder class action against Worley must foot the engineering services company’s bill for defending two trials.
A judge has allowed Slater & Gordon to adjourn a fight about security for costs in a shareholder class action against Beach Energy until it has more favourable evidence of its debt financing position, over the energy company’s objection to the “doctrinally unprecedented” application.