Defendants in the last year’s most lucrative class action settlements paid significantly more to resolve their cases than businesses shelled out in the previous two years.
An Australian fashion designer has asked the High Court to overturn a Full Court win for singer Katy Perry in a long-running trade mark dispute, saying the court’s findings “wrongly privilege the powerful and famous over ordinary traders”.
Hino Motors has agreed to pay $87 million to settle a consumer class action alleging it misrepresented that its vehicles met Australian emissions and road standards over a 20-year period.
The Full Court has rejected wealth guru Dominique Grubisa’s argument that a judge who slapped her and her company with a $6 million penalty wrongly confused the ordinary consumer with “the most ignorant”.
Women who were allegedly injured by defective pelvic mesh implants can apply to set aside two approved settlements against Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific worth $405 million.
A judge has approved a $56 million settlement in a class action alleging Monash IVF destroyed potentially viable embryos, including a $10.6 million payout for the firm that ran the case.
A kids clothing retailer that allegedly exploited Chinese migrant workers and gave false records to Fair Work Ombudsman investigators has been hit with over $5 million in penalties.
A judge has found that representatives for forex broker Union Standard used unfair tactics to pressure customers to invest in risky financial products and derived most of their revenue from customer losses, said to total $83 million.
An investor class action against failed advisory firm Linchpin Capital and its former directors has won its bid to claim its losses against a $10 million insurance policy from AIG.
A judge has approved a $57.5 million settlement in a class action against ANZ over credit card interest, including allowing the funder to recoup $1.2 million in after-the-event insurance costs.