Shine Lawyers

Lawyerly’s Litigation Law Firms of 2022 racked up precedent-setting victories in a year that continued to see major developments in class action law.

The divisive issue of whether judges are empowered to make a common fund order to distribute the costs of a funding commission at the settlement stage of a class action is headed back to the Full Federal Court next week.

Sixteen law firms and accounting firms have thrown their hat in the ring to administer a $300 million settlement in two class actions against Johnson & Johnson over pelvic mesh devices that injured thousands of women.

A contradictor appointed in two pelvic mesh class actions against Johnson & Johnson has blasted a $300 million settlement, calling it “massively” short of what is owed to group members, after a judge preliminarily found the sum was not fair and reasonable.

The applicants in a consolidated investor class action against Blue Sky Alternative Investments and auditor EY will be applying for a so-called solicitors common fund order, and will move to transfer the case to the contingency-fee friendly Victoria Supreme Court if the groundbreaking application fails.

A four-way fight to lead a shareholder class action against Star Entertainment could be on the cards after a fourth law firm filed a representative proceeding alleging the company’s share price plummeted following revelations of alleged money-laundering breaches.

The applicant in a Shine Lawyers-run class action against Boston Scientific over alleged defective pelvic mesh wants to switch legal representation, taking her business to Shine’s former class actions head, who recently parted ways with the firm to launch her own boutique.

A judge has found a law firm’s estimated fees for representing the Commonwealth in a class action over the use of allegedly toxic firefighting foam on military bases are excessive, noting the government has already forked over $12 million in defence costs.

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 opened the administration of a $300 million settlement in a pelvic mesh class action to a competitive bidding process, shortly after another judge said law firms were not uniquely qualified to distribute class action spoils.