Union members who allegedly urged former Qantas workers to give misleading information to the Federal Court via a survey in a lawsuit brought on behalf of 2,000 stood-down ground staff may be called to explain themselves after a judge expressed concern over their conduct.
More than 18 months after a split emerged among the courts, the Full Federal Court will weigh in on whether judges have power to shut out unregistered group members from a class action. But given the breadth of the question for the appeals court, the issue is unlikely to be resolved there.
The Full Court is set to examine whether the Federal Court has the power to make class closure orders prior to mediation, weighing on one of the biggest unanswered questions vexing the class action regime.
KPMG has been hit with a lawsuit by a principal director who claims he was told to “change and adjust” to “belittling and disproportionate attacks” by a partner on the debt advisory team.
Former Slater & Gordon managing director Andrew Grech has told the Federal Court he regretted his “catastrophic error” in approving the $1.2 billion acquisition of Quindell’s professional services division, which resulted in massive losses for the plaintiffs law firm.
Law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler will part with $28 million in its settlement with Slater & Gordon shareholders over advice ahead of the plaintiffs firm’s disastrous $1.2 billion Quindell acquisition.
The lawyers and funder behind a shareholder class action against Crown Resorts will be asking the court to approve fees and commission worth 35 per cent of a $125 million settlement with the gaming giant, leaving over $81 million for group members.
A judge has directed that the legal fees and funding commission sought to be deducted from a $125 million class action settlement with Crown Resorts be included in a proposed notice to shareholders, after learning that group members were forced to click through to Maurice Blackburn’s website to find the “critical” figures.
A class action on behalf of people who claim they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma after using Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer will argue the agrochemical giant should be hit with exemplary damages for its negligence in selling the herbicide, which the company allegedly knew caused cancer.
A former partner at accounting firm Pitcher Partners has told a court that he had issues working with Ernst & Young on an audit of law firm Slater & Gordon, calling the Big 4 firm “uncooperative”.