A judge has raised the possibility of referring a class action against the Morrison government for allegedly contaminating Indigenous land with toxic firefighting foam to the Full Federal Court due to novel questions the case raises about whether damages can be recovered for cultural loss.
A group of women harmed by pelvic mesh devices produced by Johnson & Johnson have accused it of persisting with a “wreckage” of a case in which one of its own doctors admitted the pharmaceutical company knew of the risks posed by the implants at they time they were sold worldwide.
The Morrison government faces a fifth class action alleging the use of toxic firefighting foam at a Defence Force base on the South Coast of New South Wales contaminated Indigenous land.
The judge who found J&J’s pelvic mesh implants defective in a high stakes class action ruling mde a “pervasive error” in disregarding the knowledge and views of the applicants’ doctors, an appeals court has heard.
Payouts in class actions in 2020 largely kept pace with the previous year despite the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, with companies and other defendants paying more than $696 million to settle class actions last year.
Lawyers for the lead applicant in a stayed class action against Bayer-owned Monsanto over its weedkiller Roundup cannot access discovered documents in a separate class action against the agricultural giant in advance of mediation next year.
A unit of Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay around $40 million in legal costs to the lead applicants in a class action over pelvic mesh implants after a judge dismissed the company’s bid to stay the costs until after a high profile appeal is heard next year.
The lead applicant in a class action against Bayer over allegedly defective Essure contraceptive devices will ask the court to discontinue its claims against two makers of the controversial medical implants.
American Medical Systems will hand over around 2.1 million documents produced in long-running US multidistrict litigation to Shine Lawyers in its class action against the Boston Scientific unit over its allegedly defective pelvic mesh products.
The NSW Court of Appeal has passed on the question of whether a judge can make a common fund order when a class action settles to ensure a certain return to litigation funders, but the issue is not going away, whatever the Federal Court’s decision in a parallel case.