The Queensland government has agreed to pay $190 million to resolve an historic class action on behalf of 10,000 Indigenous workers for unpaid wages spanning over 30 years.
Noting the “significant and beneficial reduction” in recent funding rates, the judge overseeing a shareholder class action against recycling company Sims Metal Management has signed off on an order capping the commission of the funders at 25 per cent of any net proceeds and setting a minimum 50 per cent of any recovery for group members.
A judge has praised funder IMF Bentham for not seeking to recover from group members the cost of a withdrawn common fund application in one of Shine Lawyer’s toxic foam class actions, agreeing instead to cop the loss itself.
The lead applicant in a shareholder class action against global engineering firm CIMIC Group has made a bid for indemnity costs, after a last-minute subpoena of three former executives led to the trial being vacated.
Recycling company Sims Metal Management has responded to a shareholder class action ahead of a hearing on Tuesday, denying it breached its continuous disclosure obligations and partially placing the blame for any losses at the feet of group members.
A judge has tossed an application for a common fund order in a class action over the use of toxic foam on a RAAF base near Katherine, NT after a barrister for the lead applicants said the bid would be withdrawn if the judge appointed an independent “contradictor” to scrutinise the proposed funding structure.
Two class actions against collapsed engineering firm RCR Tomlinson may be dismissed earlier than expected unless the Supreme Court allows them proceed against a liquidator who has said the failed company is strapped of funds.
A judge overseeing three toxic foam class actions against the Commonwealth of Australia has said he’s not comfortable approving a common fund order which does not detail specific remuneration amounts for funder IMF Bentham.
The Chief Justice of the Federal Court wants four referees to weigh what’s expected to be voluminous expert evidence in three class actions against the Commonwealth of Australia over exposure to allegedly toxic foam used on a government military bases, saying with 60 class actions pending in the Federal Court, devoting a single judge to the case for months on end should be a “mechanism of last resort”.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has launched a bid to stay a shareholder class action brought by boutique law firm Phi Finney McDonald after the firm retreated from a plan to consolidate its case with a competing class action run by rival Maurice Blackburn.