Woolworths

Law firm Maddocks has been ordered to pay more than $1.4 million in indemnity costs for “throwing good money after bad” in failing to consider a settlement offer in a negligence lawsuit over a client's botched deal with Woolworths. 

Saying it will only benefit the law firm and lead applicants, a judge has refused to approve a settlement in an underpayments class action against supermarket giant Woolworths, which would see no payout to employees.

Woolworths has agreed to pay $1.75 million in Adero Law's legal costs as part of a settlement of an underpayments class action which will see group members recoup any amounts they are owed in a separate proceeding brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman rather than the class action.

Supermarket giant Woolworths will pay an additional $50 million to current and former salaried team members and has provisionally settled an underpayments class action against it.

Supermarket giant Woolworths has denied the Fair Work Ombudsman is entitled to seek compensation for its underpayment of staff, saying its $330 million remediation to affected employees fully answers the regulator's case.

Employment class action law firm Adero Law is seeking to intervene in the Fair Work Ombudsman’s action against Woolworths, saying the “misconceived” proceedings have disrupted mediation in a class action against the supermarket chain for which 3,000 employees have registered.

Supermarket giant Woolworths has been hit with regulatory action by the Fair Work Ombudsman after it admitted to  shortchanging thousands of full-time salaried managers to the tune of $390 million.

The ACCC has cleared Woolworths' planned $552 million acquisition of a 65 per cent stake in wholesale food distributor PFD Food Services without the supermarket giant's proposed undertaking to maintain independence between the company for three years.

A judge has refused to sign off on $13.8 million in fees sought by law firm Maurice Blackburn as part of a $44.5 million settlement in a class action against Woolworths, saying the amount was "intuitively out of the range" of what was a reasonable legal bill for the case.

The ACCC is seeking views on a proposed undertaking by Woolworths aimed at allaying the regulator's concerns about its planned $552 million acquisition of a 65 per cent stake in wholesale food distributor PFD Food Services.