Mining giant BHP Billiton has been hit with two class actions alleging it hired hundreds of mine workers as casual employees to avoid paying proper wages and benefits, and industry heavyweights Yancoal and Glencore may face similar claims in the coming months.
Any claims that Australia will face a US-style explosion of class actions if lawyers are free to charge contingency fees are unwarranted, the head of the Victorian Law Reform Commission told Lawyerly in response to criticism of recent litigation reform proposals.
A judge has ruled the former head of Titan Industries must provide evidence in the class action trial over the Rudd Government’s cancellation of a program that subsidised home insulation installations, saying there was no proof his testimony could be used to bring a criminal case or reopen a coronial inquest into the death of a Titan contractor.
The trustee for collapsed investment group LKM Capital has reached a settlement in a class action brought on behalf of hundreds of investors who sunk $63 million into the failed firm.
Class action lawyers should be allowed to charge contingency fees and earn a percentage of any settlement, the Victorian Law Reform Commission said Tuesday on the much anticipated release of its report into class action funding.
Sydney’s Liverpool council has reached a proposed settlement with residents who claim their properties were harmed when soil containing asbestos was dumped near nature strips around their properties.
A legal stoush over a “secret” side agreement between the lead applicant in a shareholder class action and a litigation funder has been shut down, with the Full Federal Court on Monday dismissing an appeal by the applicant.
A judge overseeing a securities class action against former directors of failed pharmaceutical company QRxPharma and its legal advisor DibbsBarker has ruled that certain documents, including numerous emails sent by the law firm, are protected by attorney-client privilege.
Powercor Australia has been hit a class action alleging its negligence led to a fire in the Gazette area of South West Victoria, the fourth class action the electrical distribution company faces over the 2018 St Patrick’s Day fires.
Shine Lawyers has received unconditional funding from IMF Bentham to bring another class action against the Department of Defence over alleged land contamination near an army base, this time in the Northern Territory.