Hospitality giant Merivale is contesting a bid by the applicant in a $129 million underpayments class action to issue a second opt out notice to employees, which it said was an attempt to ensure group members ātake an interestā in the proceedings.
The fees of a class action firm found to have breached cost disclosure rules in running two underpayments class actions against supermarket chain Romeo’s have been adjusted up, after $260,000 was initially cut from the bill by the Federal Court.
A law firm running underpayments class actions against Coles and Woolworths has sought orders forcing them to hand over contact details for key workers in the Fair Work Ombudsmanās parallel cases, which the supermarket giants lashed as likely to ācause chaosā in the proceedings.
A judge has approved a $5.8 million settlement in an underpayments class action against convenience store chain On The Run despite what she said was the class action law firm’s “extraordinary” reason for reaching the deal.
Courts stepped up their scrutiny of class action settlements in 2022, with judges grappling with difficult issues such as funding commissions in employment cases and whether settlements, even those worth hundreds of millions of dollars, were fair to group members.
A judge has described as “extraordinary” a law firm’s argument that the court should approve a $5.8 million settlement in an underpayments class action against the On The Run convenience store chain partly because it ran out of funds to take the case to trial.
A judge has cut at least $170,000 from the fees sought by a law firm running a class action on behalf of Drakes Supermarkets store managers who were allegedly underpaid — the same firm that saw its fees reduced in two similar class actions.
Keeping up her scrutiny of fee disclosures by Adero Law in employment class actions launched in her court, a judge has questioned whether the law firm breached its fiduciary duty to the lead applicant in litigation against Drakes Supermarkets.
A judge overseeing two underpayment class actions against supermarket chain Romeoās has declined to vary a settlement agreement to provide for distribution by Christmas, saying plaintiff firm Adero Law had not taken āall reasonable stepsā to facilitate the payments.
A law firm has filed a class action against Wilson Security on behalf of employees who claim to have been underpaid, just weeks after a court shut down a group proceeding against the company brought by a self-represented worker.