A judge has told the law firm that has taken over a class action against Philips Electronics over recalled sleep apnea machines to take its time when amending the pleading, which he said was not the “finest piece of work” he’d ever seen.
Personal injury law firm Gerard Malouf & Partners has hit back at Maurice Blackburnās challenge to its class action experience in a fight for carriage of a class action against a Toyota unit, saying the top US firm it has partnered with to run the case trumped the major Australian plaintiff firm “on every conceivable dimensionā.
A class action against Philips Electronics over recalled sleep apnea machines is likely to proceed with a new lead applicant and law firm after the solicitor on record decided the case was not viable.Ā
The runner-up in a contest to administer Johnson & Johnson’s $300 million settlement of two pelvic mesh class actions has lost a challenge to a decision awarding the prize to the team of Slater & Gordon, BDO and the firm of former Shine Lawyers solicitor Jan Saddler.
Class actions throw up all manner of ethical conundrums, but a recent Federal Court decision has shined a light on the question of whether funders and law firms should take out loans to run class actions and whether they can charge the costs to group members.
Despite a judge’s complaint that class action costs are generally “out of control”, the law firm that secured a $192.5 million settlement and earned about $25 million in fees in the Montara oil spill case has won approval for more fees — these ones incurred in a hearing to determine how the settlement spoils should be divided.
Three years on from their debut, group costs orders — which entitle law firms to a percentage of any recovery in class actions — have raised a host of novel issues that are keeping lawyers and the court busy.
A judge overseeing a $192.5 million settlement in an oil spill class action against PTTEP Australia on behalf of Indonesian seaweed farmers has balked at the āvery largeā costs sought by Maurice Blackburn for administering the deal, expressing concerns that class action costs are āgetting out of controlā.
A judge who eviscerated a prior bid by a law firm and funder to take home 60 per cent of a $5 million class action settlement with Tyro has allowed them to net half of the proceeds, questioning whether some of the costs amounted to a ācomplete breachā of legal professional duties.
The law firm that ran a class action over the 2009 Montara oil spill must compete to administer a $192.5 million settlement, with a judge saying a tendering process is consistent with the court’s “protective and supervisory role” in managing costs deducted from class action settlements.