Settlement

Almost 7,000 taxi drivers who did not sign up to two class actions against Uber by the deadline are asking the court for a cut of a $272 million settlement, with a judge questioning what she “unleashed” when sending out the notice of settlement. 

Actor Christie Whelan Browne has resolved a lawsuit against theatre company Oldfield Entertainment alleging it violating the Sex Discrimination Act by subjecting her to sexual discrimination and harassment by fellow cast member Craig McLachlan during its 2014 production of the Rocky Horror Show.

A contradictor appointed to represent group members’ interests in relation to a $100 million settlement in a class action against AMP wants to shave $2.6 million off the funder’s cut, telling the court that deductions for ATE insurance and administrative fees should not be approved.

A judge has signed off on the first-ever settlement allowing a law firm to earn a contingency fee, approving a $12.8 million cut for Slater & Gordon in a shareholder class action against G8 Education.

A class action on behalf of 700 patients alleging assisted reproduction provider Monash IVF destroyed potentially viable embryos in a faulty genetic screening program has settled for $56 million.

Convenience store chain On the Run is mulling proceedings against United Petroleum, which allegedly paid $120,000 to a public relations firm to run a “misleading” ad campaign accusing it of wage theft. 

General Motors has failed to overturn a decision that put it on the hook for the applicant’s full costs in a partial settlement in a class action on behalf of Holden dealers, with an appeals court finding GM could not “walk away” from the ordinary meaning of the phrase ‘the plaintiff’s costs of the proceedings’.

The crypto platform formerly known as Be Pay Australia has settled a trade mark infringement suit by BPay after court-ordered mediation, changing its name and paying $50,000 toward the legal costs of the bill payments giant. 

A judge has signed off on a $230 million settlement of a class action on behalf of thousands of junior doctors who allege they were systemically underpaid by the NSW government.

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”.