Jennifer Findlay

One law firm has emerged victorious in a four-way contest to run a shareholder class action against Star Entertainment with the lowest proposed group costs order since contingency fees legislation was enacted in Victoria. 

A judge has approved a bid to consolidate two shareholder class actions against Medibank over a cyberattack that affected 10 million customers, finding that having two firms on the record is better than a carriage contest.

As it readies its civil penalty suit against tech company Nuix for trial, ASIC has flagged a possible dispute about the extent of penalty privilege pleaded by a handful of former and current directors named in the case.

A judge has signed off on a 25 per cent group costs order in a class action against Suncorp subsidiary AAI, after accepting that the back-up plan of law firm Maurice Blackburn was not artificially uncertain.

A judge overseeing a class action against Suncorp subsidiary AAI has questioned whether the “uncertain” plan B of a law firm seeking a 25 per cent group costs order was artificially uncertain to increase the relative appeal of its contingency fee bid.

Beach Energy has struck back at a shareholder class action over alleged misleading earnings projections for its oil and gas reserves in the Cooper Basin, saying it had reasonable grounds for its rosy predictions for production.

A judge has cautioned two law firms running competing shareholder class actions over last October’s cyber attack on Medibank that they must keep their focus on the best interests of clients and group members, saying lawyers can lose sight of that duty when arguing for their case. 

As the knives come out in a contest between four law firms battling to run an $80 million class action against Star Entertainment, a court-appointed barrister has named his favourites – one of which has proposed a contingency fee of just 14 per cent.

Three firms fighting for carriage of a $80 million class action against Star Entertainment say a group costs order would guard against ‘costs blowouts’ in the case and have urged a judge to ditch a no win, no fee proposal brought by fourth-to-file firm Shine Lawyers.

A judge has declined to hear an interlocutory stoush about the scope of a shareholder class action against engineering company Worley before an upcoming trial, saying the case, which has been on foot since 2015 and was appealed to the High Court, needed “some finality”.