The High Court has declined to hear a case that challenges the power of judges to make common fund orders at the close of litigation, a challenge the Federal Court had labelled “hypothetical”.
The power to make common fund orders in class actions is a question before the High Court a second time, but the justices aren’t likely to quell the conflict simmering in the courts below, at least until they have a concrete order before them.
The stage is set for a beauty parade of two shareholder class actions against Freedom Foods and Deloitte, and the judge overseeing the cases has embraced the recommendation of the High Court to appoint an independent barrister to represent group members in the contest.
A judge has shot down what he called a “risky” but novel proposal by 7-Eleven for a pre-trial ruling on sample objections to the relevance of evidence in two franchise class actions.
The trustee of Mayfair Group’s collapsed IPO Wealth Fund has denied claims in a class action that it misled investors who lost $86 million when the fund was wound up, and says it is fully indemnified for the class action’s claims under an agreement with the fund.
Creditors of LGL Commodities might have a right of action against solicitors for the company’s liquidators for failing to comply with court orders and omitting evidence in a case against a former director, a judge has ruled.
A judge has urged the parties in two pelvic mesh class actions against Boston Scientific to come up with a “pragmatic solution” to the competing proceedings filed in the Federal and NSW Supreme courts.
A judge has ordered the lead applicant in a shareholder class action against G8 Education to disclose a previously redacted clause of a costs agreement to the childcare centre operator, saying he failed to show how supplying the information would give G8 a tactical advantage in the case.
Courts have power to order oral discovery of potential witnesses ahead of trial, according to the judge overseeing two 7-Eleven class actions by franchisees, but the cases against the convenience store giant were not the occasion to exercise the power, he said.
The former CEO of Hendry Group who claims the business consultancy suspended her after she complained of bullying and sex harassment has lashed out at the company’s claims that she was let go for misconduct, saying she only became aware of the allegations against her through board meeting minutes.