Saying the interests of class action members “must be given primacy”, a judge has rejected the first bid for a group costs order in a class action since contingency fee legislation passed in Victoria.
Crown Resorts chair Helen Coonan and the CEO of Crown Melbourne will step down at the end of this month, the latest heads to roll as the casino operator attempts to persuade Royal Commissioner Ray Finkelstein QC that it should keep its Victorian licence.
Crown Melbourne is not presently suitable to hold a casino licence in Victoria, counsel assisting the royal commission into the casino operator said Tuesday.
A Victoria Supreme Court judge weighing for the first time an application by a law firm for a percentage cut of recoveries in class actions has been told to reject the bid because group members would fare better under the firm’s current no win, no fee funding arrangement.
Crown’s former legal boss threatened to call the federal gaming minister after Victoria’s gaming watchdog pushed the company to implement stronger anti-money laundering controls on junket players, the royal commission into Crown Melbourne has heard.
A “belligerent” Crown Melbourne lied to investigators probing the arrests of 19 of its China-based staff, and the casino operator could face charges of contempt for failing to respond to demands for documents by the gaming watchdog, an inquiry has been told.
The judge overseeing the first ever bid for a group costs order in a class action that will give the plaintiff’s law firm a percentage cut of the proceeds has urged the firm to rethink characterising its own solicitor as an expert.
Corrs Chambers Westgarth will assist former Federal Court judge Ray Finkelstein QC’s royal commission into whether Crown Melbourne is suitable to hold a casino licence in the state, and has kicked off by seeking documents from James Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings.
The first ever application for a group costs order will be heard in class actions against ANZ and Westpac, and the judge weighing the application has urged the parties to think carefully about the evidence they will submit in support of their bid for a cut of any settlement or judgment.
Online retailer Kogan has been hit with a $350,000 penalty for misleading customers during its 2018 TAXTIME promotion by offering discounts on products whose prices had been inflated, far short of the $2 million penalty sought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.