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Australia's largest private health insurer Medibank has flagged an application to stay a landmark data breach class action filed in the Federal Court, as another law firm mulls a class action over the massive breach.
The question of power to make a common fund order at the end of a class action was no longer a hypothetical one and it was time to send the issue to the Full Federal Court. That's what the 7-Eleven class action judge was told 15 months ago but he failed to heed the advice, resulting in a court deeply divided and funders clamouring for reform.
Requests by litigants for judges to disqualify themselves from presiding over cases were largely denied last year, in a raft of decisions containing lessons for litigants weighing up their own recusal bids in 2023.
In reasons for approving a $41 million deal to settle one of three shareholder class actions over Slater & Gordon's acquisition of a UK firm and awarding the funder 28 per cent, a judge has challenged a persistent notion that the interests of litigation funders and group members are at odds.
A costs report in a settled class action against Woolworths that recommended almost $800,000 in legal fee deductions failed to wrestle with a key factor in weighing the proportionality of the costs, a judge has said.
Automotive electronics company Directed Electronics has largely prevailed in a five-year-old lawsuit alleging a former manager misappropriated company information and reaped $3.6 million in commissions through a secret side agreement with South Korean giant Hanhwa.
The High Court will not wade into the global debate over whether artificial intelligence inventions should receive patent protection, letting stand a Full Court judgment that overturned a landmark victory for AI pioneer Dr Stephen Thaler.
A judge has approved a $41 million settlement in a shareholder class action against Pitcher Partners but has reduced the funder’s cut to $11.5 million after resolving a feud with the lead applicant over how much it should receive for taking the case to trial.
The law firm that secured a $44.5 million settlement in a class action against Woolworths has won its full $14.5 million in costs, with a judge tossing the report of the referee he appointed to examine the fees, which he said appeared double what they should be.
A judge has suggested that financial services giant AMP bring an application for summary dismissal of part of a class action over allegedly excessive insurance premiums, questioning the basis for the claims.