A court-appointed contradictor has asked for changes to a $112 million settlement in the Robodebt class action against the federal government, saying it is unfair that some group members won’t receive financial compensation from the settlement, which had a “bigger set of losers” than normal.
The judge overseeing the Robodebt class action has raised concerns about the fairness of a $112 million settlement in the case, which will provide no financial benefit to some group members and will extinguish their rights to make claims against the federal government.
The ACCC has secured a misuse of market power declaration against Tasmanian government-owned TasPorts in the regulator’s first action under amended competition laws, but the ports company will not pay a penalty as part of an agreement to resolve the case.
The Commonwealth of Australia is seeking to remove all references to representative proceedings from a class action pleading that alleges the government failed to disclose the impacts of climate change to investors in sovereign bonds.
The ACCC’s cartel case against family-owned crane company NQCranes suffers from ‘incoherence’, the company’s counsel told the Federal Court on Monday ahead of an application to strike out a large portion of the regulator’s case.
Counsel for Queensland-based NQCranes has lashed out at the ACCC for seeking to amend its cartel action against the crane company, telling a court the regulator had been warned for months that the case was deficient.
Payouts in class actions in 2020 largely kept pace with the previous year despite the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, with companies and other defendants paying more than $696 million to settle class actions last year.
The law firm that led an unfunded class action against the Federal government over the controversial Robodebt scheme will ask the court to approve up to $16 million in legal costs when it seeks approval for the $112 million settlement reached in the class action last year.
The applicant in the settled Robodebt class action has warned a judge he will have a “dispute on [his] hands” if the government presses an argument that law firm Gordon Legal is not entitled to some of its legal fees — an argument the court was told would put the Commonwealth in breach of the settlement deed.
Logistics services provider Qube has resolved a lawsuit that accused the Port of Newcastle of misusing its power in the market for port services by denying Qube’s request to use its own equipment to provide dry bulk unloading services at the port.