A judge has approved a $33 million settlement in a class action against vocational education provider Box Hill Institute, but taken the ax to a law firm’s proposed 18.25 per cent loading on its fees, saying courts shouldn’t approve uplifts for run of the mill legal work.
Despite recent class actions against Medibank and Optus for cybersecurity breaches, class actions over cyber attacks will not become common because they involve “a lot of work for not a lot of money”, a lawyer has predicted.
The judge whose ruling against the legal team behind the Banksia class action fraud helped redeem the battered reputation of the civil justice system may be asked to disqualify himself from the final fight in the drawn out case.
A judge has approved a confidential settlement in a class action on behalf of 383 apartment owners in Sydney’s Opal Tower but slashed the amount sought by the funder.
A judge has cut at least $170,000 from the fees sought by a law firm running a class action on behalf of Drakes Supermarkets store managers who were allegedly underpaid — the same firm that saw its fees reduced in two similar class actions.
A judge overseeing the Montara oil spill class action has found the Federal Court’s broad discretion under the class action regime is “outflanked” by the need to give group members a chance to opt out. But resolving that question on Thursday — which has divided the courts — caused a further wrinkle ahead of a hearing to weigh a settlement in the case.
The lead applicant in a class action on behalf of investors who sank $12.3 million into an allegedly fraudulent sports betting scheme run by convicted conman Peter Foster may drop the case after a partner in the scheme filed for bankruptcy.
Car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has been hit with a class action alleging it misled drivers over vehicles fitted with defective diesel particulate filters.
A judge has questioned a tiered contingency fee arrangement in a proposed group costs order by the law firm running a shareholder class action against Crown, asking whether the lower-end percentages were “meaningless”.
A judge has dismissed a class action brought against animal health giant Zoetis over alleged side effects resulting from its Hendra virus horse vaccine, finding there were “too many uncertainties” in the applicant’s evidence.