Class Actions

A contradictor has argued against Monash IVF’s bid for orders allowing it to retain embryos as evidence in a class action, saying the Victorian Supreme Court has no power to make orders inconsistent with the company’s statutory obligation to store embryos for a maximum of five years. 

In submissions to the High Court, the applicant in a class action brought on behalf of Arrium shareholders against KMPG has attacked the Attorney-General’s argument that a contingency fee order is a neutral factor in assessing the accounting firm’s bid to move the case from Victoria. 

Experts say the chaos of last month’s CrowdStrike outage is likely to spark a flurry of litigation both overseas and at home, including class actions, but lawyers bringing the claims will face significant hurdles.

A law firm is investigating claims against the manufacturers of popular heartburn and acid reflux drugs, alleging they could be responsible for causing stomach cancers and kidney failure in approximately 100,000 people.

In the first-ever settlement approval hearing involving a group costs order, a contradictor has argued that Slater & Gordon should have provided the court with more information on legal costs and internal rate of return as part of its bid for a $12.8 million contingency fee.

A judge has dismissed a class action alleging Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer is carcinogenic but did not go so far as to say it definitively does not cause cancer, while also dressing down the lawyers for both sides for causing delays in the case.

Three units of Perth-based builder BGC Housing Group have been hit with a class action on behalf of thousands of home owners who allege they have been harmed by lengthy construction delays.

The judge considering a $272 million settlement in class actions against Uber will appoint a pair of contradictors to advise her on the hundreds of objections lobbed against the agreement.

A class action has accused not for profit community legal service Knowmore Legal of breaching its duty of care and providing negligent advice to survivors of institutional child sexual abuse who settled their claims under the National Redress Scheme when they could have recovered more by taking their claims to court.

The ex-chair of former ANZ unit OnePath “has not been cooperating” in a class action alleging it breached its duties as a trustee of superannuation funds by slugging members with excessive fees to pay commissions to financial advisers, a court has heard.