The funder behind the recently resolved shareholder class action against teleco Vocus will ask a judge to make a common fund order at a hearing to approve a $35 million settlement of the case, the first common fund order since the High Court appeared to put the kibosh on them.
Facing a class action by shareholders alleging negligence over advice to Slater & Gordon, law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler is bringing proceedings against its former client to use files in defence of the case.
A common fund order granting the litigation funder behind the stolen wages class action 20 per cent of a $190 million settlement remains in force after a High Court judgment that did away with such orders, a judge has found.
The judge overseeing three class actions against the Commonwealth alleging contamination from the use of toxic firefighting foam at three naval bases has shot down the plaintiffs’ bid for a formal communication reminding two referees of their role in the proceedings.
Companies and other defendants forked over big sums last year to settle more than 20 class actions, with a total of at least $734 million being paid out. Here are the top 10 class action settlements and the law firms and funders that negotiated them.
Calling it the largest human rights case in Australia’s history, a judge has signed off on a $190 million settlement in a class action against the State of Queensland and approved the funder’s 20 per cent cut of the proceeds.
A class action against Westpac over allegedly excessive insurance premiums that was at the centre of a successful High Court challenge to common fund orders may back out of funding the case in the wake of the landmark ruling.
A planned class action by Shine Lawyers, pegged as “Australia’s largest class action,” over allegedly toxic firefighting foam at eight Commonwealth military bases won’t be filed this month and has turned to bookbuilding following a landmark High Court ruling striking down common fund orders at the outset of class actions.
Arguing it shouldn’t be the victim of an “accident of timing”, the funder that bankrolled the landmark stolen wages class action is fighting to save a common fund order granting it 20 per cent of a $190 million settlement in the case, despite a recent High Court judgment shooting down the orders.
German cladding manufacturer 3A Composites has again threatened to call for the de-classing of a class action brought over allegedly combustible cladding, slamming the case against it as “simply shambolic” and the conduct of the applicant as “utterly irresponsible”.