A ruling this week that rejected the first application for a group costs order in a class action because the applicants were better off with their existing no win, no fee arrangement was the right decision given the limits of the legislation, experts say.
A judge has signed off on a proposal by two law firms to jointly run a consolidated class action against Allianz over add-on car insurance, shooting down the insurer’s argument that a beauty contest would promote competitive contingency fee rates.
Boral has denied that shareholders bringing two class actions against it over financial irregularities in its North America windows business suffered any loss, saying that its systems helped spot and prevent the financial manipulation from continuing.
Saying the interests of class action members “must be given primacy”, a judge has rejected the first bid for a group costs order in a class action since contingency fee legislation passed in Victoria.
Water supplier and dam operator Seqwater has won its high-stakes challenge to a ruling finding it liable for the 2011 Queensland floods and sticking it with half the damages owed to thousands of class action members.
Qantas Airways is seeking to overturn a Federal Court finding that its decision to axe 2,000 ground staff and replace them with labour hire workers during the COVID-19 pandemic was made partially to stop workers engaging in industrial action.
Dam operator Seqwater will find out this week if its decision not to settle with group members in a class action over the 2011 Queensland floods has paid off.
A law firm is investigating a potential class action on behalf of pet owners whose dogs have died or fallen ill after consuming food contaminated with a known toxin.
Reforms by the Morrison government passed earlier this month weakening continuous disclosure obligations will spur corporate defendants to engage in “expensive interlocutory warfare” to shut down class actions right off the bat, and plaintiffs lawyers are waiting to see how the courts interpret the new laws to determine these early strike-out fights.
A former Maurice Blackburn lawyer set to give evidence in a suit against Qantas was not “deliberately avoiding” the trial with an extended hospital stay, but “better evidence” was needed for why he was admitted, a judge has said.