A court has approved a settlement worth up to $202 million in a stolen wages class action against the government, but will hear further argument on the legal costs of the case.
The High Court has agreed to rule on whether common fund orders can ever be made in class actions, including so-called solicitors’ common fund orders allowing lawyers to earn a cut of any settlement.
Shine Lawyers wants to claim $24.5 million in legal costs in a stolen wages class action on behalf of Northern Territory First Nations people, a sum a judge called “eye watering”.
A judge has expressed concerns after hearing that up to 20,000 group members in three pelvic mesh class actions have yet to receive payment from $405 million in settlements approved in March last year.
A class action over deaths allegedly caused by negligent care at a NSW aged care facility during COVID-19 has settled.
The judge overseeing a $180.4 million settlement in a stolen wages class action has railed against Shine Lawyers’ $10 million bill for the costs of registration, saying “something has gone seriously wrong”.
A class action targeting Westpac subsidiary BT Funds and Tal Life Insurance was discontinued after documents discovered by the companies caused funder Woodsford to bow out.
A ruling that clarified the materiality requirement in continuous disclosure cases could lead to more regulatory actions and activist shareholder claims, but won’t boost shareholder class actions, experts say.
A class action against McDonald’s alleging workers were not given mandatory rest breaks has “gone backwards” after the fast food giant withdrew previously agreed facts, a court has heard.
Fast food giant KFC has argued an initial trial in an underpayments class action could result in an “entirely hypothetical” finding unless it also deals with the claims of several sample group members.