A judge has questioned the law firm running a class action against medical glove maker Ansell on its application for a contingency fee rate of 40 per cent, which would equal the highest rate granted since Victoria allowed firms to earn a percentage profit of a group proceeding.
Monash IVF is fighting a class action’s bid to file a fourth statement of claim in the three year-old case over the alleged destruction of potentially viable embryos, saying the proposed pleadings sparked by an expert report constituted a new case.
Four insurers have argued that class actions over alleged business interruption losses during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic should be de-classed, with one insurer saying group members cannot “go behind” a Full Court decision denying coverage for certain policyholders.
Although carefully reasoned, last week’s landmark judgment by the Full Federal Court finding power to grant contingency fees to class action solicitors has placed the question of statutory authority to award settlement common fund orders on more unsteady ground than before, experts say.
Group members in a class action against ANZ over credit card interest charges that settled for $57.5 million are expected to take home at least 60 per cent of the settlement sum after legal fees and a funder’s commission are deducted.
A shareholder has filed an application for preliminary discovery against KMPG and water treatment company Phoslock as she weighs a possible class action over the company’s past fraud and mismanagement.
A funder bankrolling a class action against the NSW government over the construction of Sydney’s $16 billion Westconnex tunnel is locked in a dispute with the lead applicants over $135,000 held in a trust account, and wants to replace the plaintiffs and their solicitors, the third group of lawyers to run the case.
Lawyers are allowed to take a cut from a class action settlement or judgment under a so-called solicitors’ common fund order, the Full Federal Court has ruled, saying they are a permissive use of the court’s power.
The Federal Court is set to become a more attractive forum for class actions now that the Full Court has confirmed it has power to make orders granting solicitors a contingency fee from any settlement or judgment in a group proceeding.
OTR Group’s network of Smokemart and Giftbox stores face a potential class action that would allege the chains breached employment laws by depriving workers of breaks during shifts.