A recent ruling cutting the contingency fee sought by a plaintiff law firm shows competition to run class actions will drive down the percentage payout courts are willing to permit. And as more firms enter the market for a slice of the returns, the downward pressure on profits will only build.
A judge has described as “extraordinary” a law firm’s argument that the court should approve a $5.8 million settlement in an underpayments class action against the On The Run convenience store chain partly because it ran out of funds to take the case to trial.
Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins who accused former colleague Bruce Lehrmann of rape has settled her civil claims against the Commonwealth.
Two Dixon Advisory insurers have lost a bid to limit the details of insurance policies handed over to a class action purported to worth $463 million, after a judge’s ruled the collapsed wealth manager should disclose its insurance for liability in the case.
A judge has found the applicant in a dismissed class action against animal health giant Zoetis is liable for the company’s defence costs in the case centering on alleged serious side effects of horse vaccine Equivac.
A judge has signed off on a group costs order in class action against Allianz over add-on car insurance that will give plaintiff law firms Johnson Winter & Slattery and Maurice Blackburn no more than 25 per cent of any resolution in the case.
Property developer Fowler Homes has admitted that its standard contract included an unfair non-disparagement clause preventing customers from publishing negative reviews or other feedback without the company’s permission.
Companies associated with the wife of disgraced senior barrister Norman O’Bryan can’t get a new judge to hear their battle against a third-party costs summons that would make them jointly liable for a $21.5 million judgment for investors in a class action over Banksia Securities’ collapse.
A Sydney barrister was embarrassed and afraid to return to chambers following Channel Nine’s allegedly defamatory coverage of her custody battle for famed social media pooch Oscar the cavoodle, a court has heard.
The former chief executive officer of baby food producer Bellamy’s Organic has sued her former employer for over $400,000, claiming it discriminated against her by offering a salary that was one-third of what her male predecessor earned.