That a first filed case should be the presumptive winner in a competition between class actions seemed a losing argument before the High Court on Tuesday as the justices weighed a challenge to a ruling picking one among a group of class actions against AMP, but the court also appeared skeptical of the power to hold wide ranging inquiries into the merits of competing cases.
CFMEU official Michael O’Connor has successfully appealed a ruling that threw out his lawsuit seeking to restrain union heavyweight John Setka from poaching members from the union’s manufacturing division.
The eyes of class action lawyers will be on the High Court Tuesday as it hears arguments over a judge’s power to choose a single class action among competing proceedings and what, if anything, should be made of a case’s funding structure and likely returns to group members when picking a winner.
Notice of the discontinuance of a class action on behalf of Slater & Gordon shareholders against Pitcher Partners need not be sent to all group members, a judge has ruled, acknowledging there would be “significant practical difficulties” with trying to reach everyone.
Rideshare giant Uber Technologies has lost a bid to keep its in-house legal team from handing over emails to a class action brought by Australian taxi drivers as well as the company behind the GoCatch taxi app.
Embattled dam operators Seqwater and Sunwater, along with the State of Queensland, have been hit with costs in a class action over the 2011 floods that destroyed 2,000 homes and claimed 12 lives.
A judge has expressed skepticism at claims by accounting firm Pitcher Partners that the lead applicant of a now dropped class action over its auditing advice to Slater & Gordon should be hit with indemnity costs for discontinuing the case.
A judge has raised doubts about claims of loss and damage in a class action by members of superannuation funds operated by NAB units MLC and NULIS over alleged MySuper mismanagement, as he determines a challenge to whether the case was validly brought as a class action.
Johnson Winter & Slattery persisted with a shareholder class action over auditing advice given to Slater & Gordon despite concerns about the strength of the claims raised in late 2017, Pitcher Partners has told the Federal Court as it seeks indemnity costs for the now abandoned proceeding.
Dropping a class action against accounting firm Pitcher Partners over Slater & Gordon’s disastrous acquisition of UK professional services firm Quindell will leave group members no worse off than they were when the proceeding first commenced, the Federal Court has heard.