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Lawyers are allowed to take a cut from a class action settlement or judgment under a so-called solicitors’ common fund order, the Full Federal Court has ruled, saying they are a permissive use of the court’s power.
The Federal Court is set to become a more attractive forum for class actions now that the Full Court has confirmed it has power to make orders granting solicitors a contingency fee from any settlement or judgment in a group proceeding.
Counsel for Worley in a nine-year-old shareholder class action that is set for another Full Court appeal has foreshadowed a possible recusal application against the judges who heard the first appeal.
BHP wants to appeal a decision giving a class action the OK to fix what a judge accepted was an "inadvertent mistake" that resulted in a ruling -- itself the subject of an appeal -- which limited the group member definition.
The judge overseeing a six-year-old class action against BHP over the collapse of a Brazilian dam has allowed the applicant to retroactively amend the group definition, accepting that a pleading mistake was contrary to the intended class membership in the case.
The judge overseeing a consumer class action against wealth manager Colonial First State Investments has given the green light to a $100 million settlement, but questioned a $23.1 million cut to funder Augusta under a “strange” funding agreement.
Hearing arguments Tuesday on whether lawyers should be permitted to earn contingency fees in Federal Court class actions, judges on a Full Court bench appeared to lean in favour of allowing so-called solicitors' common fund orders, rejecting claims they are "unjust".
Optus has lost its appeal of a decision that found the telco could not claim legal professional privilege over a Deloitte report into a major data breach, with an appeals court highlighting the lack of evidence from former CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin.
While it was unfair for a judge to pick Gilbert + Tobin to run a class action against Jaguar Land Rover on the condition that it lower its funding rate, the judge was entitled to consider the law firm’s experience in a similar case against Toyota, an appeals court has said in its reasons.
A judge has granted leave to law firm Levitt Robinson to challenge a ruling cutting $1.14 million of its fees from a settled class action against retirement home operator Aveo, finding the appeal was sufficiently arguable.