Class actions are the next battleground following Thursday’s Federal Court ruling that the government owes a duty of care to protect children from the risks of climate change, according to a number of legal experts.
Reported plans by the Morrison government to continue its class action reform efforts by legislating a minimum gross return to group members was roundly knocked by experts who spoke to Lawyerly in the wake of the latest class action inquiry report.
The federal Minister for the Environment owes a duty of care to children who could suffer “catastrophic” harms from increased greenhouse gas emissions that would result from approving the expansion of Whitehaven’s Vickery coal mine, a judge has ruled.
At least 60 class actions were filed in Australian courts from July 1 last year to April 30, marking a record for new group cases in a financial year with two months to go, according to a preliminary report by King & Wood Mallesons’ disputes resolution team.
The liquidator of restaurant chain Fogo Brazilia has been ordered to hand over communications with law firm Levitt Robinson as creditors seek to oust him from his role over alleged breaches of duty relating to a class action investigation.
One of the lead applicants in a settled shareholder class action against technology company Arasor wants to set aside a statutory demand from funder International Litigation Partners, reviving a years-long beef over $1.2 million allegedly owed in personal expenses under a side agreement agreement with the funder.
Global resources giant BHP Group has asked the Full Court to rule foreign investors should be excluded from a shareholder class action over the 2015 Fundao dam disaster, arguing the class action regime only applies to those in Australia.
Grant Thornton has won approval to a bring a cross-claim against Forge Group, just three months ahead of trial in the collapsed engineering company’s case against the accounting firm and ten former directors for their alleged negligence in relation to its “uneconomic” purchase of CTEC in 2012.
The stage is set for a beauty parade of two shareholder class actions against Freedom Foods and Deloitte, and the judge overseeing the cases has embraced the recommendation of the High Court to appoint an independent barrister to represent group members in the contest.
Commercial and class action firm Banton Group is investigating a shareholder class action against embattled technology company Nuix in relation to its pre-IPO disclosures which could also ensnare shareholder Macquarie and its executives, auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers and the joint lead managers on its float.