Victorian Liberal Party leader John Pesutto has settled two defamation lawsuits by organisers of the ‘Let Women Speak Rally’ and apologised for conflating them with neo-Nazis who crashed the event, saying his comments “could have more clearly differentiated between the groups”.
A judge has expressed concerns about the plaintiff’s proposed group costs order rate in a shareholder class action against fleet management company FleetPartners, saying the purpose of the GCO regime was to lower costs to group members.
The funder behind two class actions against Uber, which have settled for $272 million, stands to make a tidy sum if the settlement holds up at a court approval hearing.
He was struck from the roll for his part in the darkest chapter of Victoria’s legal history, but that hasn’t stopped Banksia class action silk Norman O’Bryan from representing himself in an appeals court challenge to what he claims was a denial of procedural fairness and a false finding of fraud.
Slater & Gordon has won the court’s nod to be separately represented at an upcoming settlement approval hearing where it will seek a $12.8 million group costs order for running a shareholder class action against G8 Education.
Appellate guidance is needed on whether a history of cooperation between law firms that brought competing class actions can be the deciding factor in a close carriage contest, the Victorian Court of Appeal has heard.
A County Court of Victoria judge has been found to have breached the standards of conduct generally expected of judicial officers in his handling of a rape trial, following a complaint by the state’s top prosecutor.
A judge has granted the Victorian government’s bid to dismiss a class action over its decision to retire Melbourne’s high-rise public housing towers, but allowed the applicant to recast his claim, despite protests from the state.
A judge on the Supreme Court of Victoria says he is a ‘convert’ on group costs orders, which allow law firms running class action to earn a cut of any settlement or judgment, saying GCOs will give better returns to group members and that conflicts can be managed.
Charges accusing Victoria’s Department of Health of health and safety breaches during the state’s hotel quarantine program have been dropped on the eve of trial, after the state succeeded in excluding evidence submitted to an inquiry into the disastrous program.