The Commonwealth can be held criminally responsible for damage to First Nations sacred sites in the Northern Territory, the High Court has unanimously found in a case over construction damage to Gunlom Falls in Kakadu National Park.
The High Court has held that a contractor had a “prima facie entitlement” to recoup the costs of building an aircraft hangar in Cessnock, NSW, which it spent in reliance on the local government performing its obligations under their contract, in a case that clarifies how courts should assess reliance damages claims.
The Full Federal Court has found the court’s recently-affirmed power to make common fund orders at settlement means the litigation funder that backed two class actions against 7-Eleven is entitled to a $24.5 million cut from a $98 million settlement, in a decision that slammed the parties for a settlement approval process that “went off the rails”, costing group members $2.5 million.
The Full High Court will sit for the hearing of KPMG’s battle to transfer a Victoria class action to Sydney, as the applicant in the case raises a question as to the constitutional validity of the firm’s argument that the NSW Supreme Court is bound to keep a group costs order operative.
The High Court has handed a win to a class action on behalf of Queensland ratepayers who were wrongly charged levies over a period of six years, rejecting the local council’s argument that the levies were put to good use.
KPMG has won its application for the High Court to weigh in on the relevance of a contingency fee order in determining a bid to transfer a shareholder class action from Victoria to NSW.
A judge hearing an appeal by a funder over its cut of a $98 million settlement in franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven has said the $12 million commission was “plainly too little”, and questioned if the class action judge had been “stuck” on the idea that common fund orders are bad.
The High Court has been asked to hear another case dealing with how reduction in value damages should be calculated under the Australian Consumer Law, with Ford arguing its appeal should be heard alongside two appeals in a class action against Toyota which the High Court has already agreed to take up.
The High Court has agreed to weigh in on a 16-year battle between the federal government and French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis over an allegedly unjustified court order that prevented the release of a generic version of blockbuster blood-thinner Plavix.
The High Court has overturned a ruling that barred foreign passengers from a class action over the ill-fated Ruby Princess cruise in 2020, finding a class action waiver in the terms and conditions of their tickets was unenforceable under Australia’s consumer laws.