Class Actions

Merivale will fork over $18 million in a proposed settlement to resolve an employment class action against the hospitality giant, of which $8.6 million is sought to be deducted in legal fees and a funder’s commission.

Downer EDI has named KPMG in a cross-claim in a class action by shareholders, a move the accounting giant says has forced it to resign as auditor for the infrastructure services company.

A judge has ordered a litigation funder bankrolling an investor class action against Virgin Australia to show evidence it can meet a $10 million agreed indemnity with the airline, saying it was not being transparent about its financial position. 

A judge has rejected Scenic Tours’ bid to declass a second class action brought by disappointed passengers on a series of European cruises and exclude international customers from the proceeding.

A judge has allowed Slater & Gordon to adjourn a fight about security for costs in a shareholder class action against Beach Energy until it has more favourable evidence of its debt financing position, over the energy company’s objection to the “doctrinally unprecedented” application.

The ACT government has argued the Federal Court cannot hear a class action brought on behalf of public housing tenants who were allegedly forced to relocate.

The law firm behind a class action against Insurance Australia Group has secured a group costs order that will give it 30 per cent of any proceeds — a contingency fee rate six percentage points higher than the median rate for shareholder cases.

More companies may find themselves in the position of Medibank — which recently failed to stay representative proceedings before the privacy regulator while a related class action is on foot — so long as the laws remain unchanged, and law firms are willing to gamble on privacy class actions.

Victoria’s Peninsula Health has abandoned an appeal of a ruling in a class action that found it breached workplace laws by failing to pay overtime to a junior doctor, a capitulation that could be a game changer for a series of class actions against health care providers.

A judge has ordered soft class closure in a class action against Suncorp unit AAI over allegedly worthless insurance, saying that knowing how many of the 200,000 group members are likely to participate would assist in resolving the case.