A Federal Court judge’s endorsement of the novel idea of a ‘solicitors’ common fund order’ may reverse the trend of class action lawyers running to the Supreme Court of Victoria, where they can earn a contingency fee, to file their cases.
With bated breath class action litigators and funders have waited for this day, when the Full Federal Court decides the question of power to make common fund orders at settlement. They aren’t the final arbiters, but the judges’ ruling may be no less important for that.
A judge has ordered ANZ to pay a $15 million agreed penalty in a case over more than $10 million in cash advance fees charged to the credit card accounts of hundreds of thousands of customers.
A judge has questioned an argument by Optus that a report by Deloitte into a major data breach was protected by privilege, saying a press release by the teleco’s boss belied the claim that the provision of legal advice was the report’s chief purpose.
The OAIC has been dragged to court by the law firm that filed a class action-style complaint over the massive Optus data breach, after the privacy commissioner chose a competing representative complaint to move forward.
A judge has approved a bid to consolidate two shareholder class actions against Medibank over a cyberattack that affected 10 million customers, finding that having two firms on the record is better than a carriage contest.
Automotive electronics company Directed Electronics has lost its bid to revive copyright claims against a form business partner who it pursued as part of litigation over a scheme by two former employees to misappropriate its trade secrets through a secret side agreement with South Korean giant Hanhwa.
A judge has endorsed Medibankās bid to sue the OAIC so the court can weigh in on the health insurerās bid to halt the regulator’s investigation in favour of a class action over its October data breach, saying the OAIC’s interference with the court proceedings could constitute a contempt of court.
A judge has thrown out claims in a $650 million lawsuit by 38 dealers against Mercedes-Benz Australia over its decision to move to a fixed-price agency model, finding the dealers’ lawsuit sought to rewrite the terms of their agreement with the car maker on more commercially favourable terms.
Two class actions against Victorian aged care providers on behalf of families of residents who died due to alleged failures during the COVID-19 pandemic have appealed a ruling that rejected their bid for insurance and financial information to assist in mediation.