The High Court has agreed to step in to resolve division among Australia’s courts on the question of power to make orders that exclude unregistered group members from class action settlements.
A $13.5 million settlement has been reached in a Gadens-led class action against former Quintis director Frank Wilson, and the funder of a rival class action is preparing to seek a chunk of the sum in what a judge has called a “most unusual circumstance”.
A Gadens-led class action against former Quintis director Frank Wilson has settled, but a second class action filed by a rival firm has flagged a potential claim on the settlement funds over a cause of action said to have been “picked up parasitically”.
The High Court has been asked to overturn a NSW Court of Appeal decision finding it had no power to exclude unregistered group members from a settlement, which conflicted with Federal Court precedent, hearing the divergence of the important issue “can only be resolved by the High Court”.
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 NSW Court of Appeal has said it has no power to exclude group members who do not sign up to a class action from participating in a settlement, upholding a controversial decision that the Full Federal Court said was “plainly wrong”.
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.
A judge has held that there could be favourable costs consequences for Carnival if its rejected $15 million settlement offer in the Ruby Princess class action turns out to be more generous than the ultimate damages award, departing from a previous ruling that so-called Calderbank offers do not operate in group proceedings.
Cruise ship operator Carnival PLC has flagged a bid for indemnity costs after the lead applicant in a class action over a COVID-19 outbreak aboard the Ruby Princess rejected a $15 million settlement offer.
A law firm that lost a contest to run a class action against Toyota unit Hino has appealed a decision to give the case to a larger rival based on past experience, saying the ruling would act as a deterrent to smaller firms wanting to enter the market for group proceedings.