Justice Jonathan Beach

BHP has told an appeals court a shareholder class action should not be allowed to expand the group definition to correct an alleged drafting error.

A judge has tossed ASIC’s case against REST over alleged misleading representations, finding the representations were statements of opinion reasonably held based on the advice of lawyers.

Self-described property ‘mogul’ Sasha Hopkins has agreed to pay a $1.25 million fine and face a four-year disqualification in proceedings by the corporate regulator.

Mesoblast has agreed to settle a shareholder class action centred on statements to the market about its Remestemcel-L treatment, resolving claims it misrepresented the efficacy of the therapy for COVID-19 patients.

Although carefully reasoned, last week’s landmark judgment by the Full Federal Court finding power to grant contingency fees to class action solicitors has placed the question of statutory authority to award settlement common fund orders on more unsteady ground than before, experts say.

Group members in a class action against ANZ over credit card interest charges that settled for $57.5 million are expected to take home at least 60 per cent of the settlement sum after legal fees and a funder’s commission are deducted.

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.

Google has slammed Fortnite game maker Epic Games’ landmark competition case against it as “contrary to commercial reality”, saying its competition with rival tech giant Apple means it is no monopolist.

In a landmark competition case, Apple has told the Federal Court that Epic Games and other developers should not be allowed to “freeride” on the resources and user base the tech giant has “spent many billions” to develop.