Three senior Federal Court judges will hear arguments Monday and Tuesday in a closely-watched appeal of a ruling that stayed two of three competing shareholder class actions against GetSwift as an abuse of process, and the impact of the Full Court’s ruling will be felt for a long time to come. Here are five major issues the court will be wrestling with over the next two days.
Unlockd’s case against Google is the first action in Australia to test a revamped law prohibiting misuse of market power, and one of the first private cases in the world to challenge Google’s dominance in court. For both sides, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
The financing arrangement underwriting Quinn Emanuel’s shareholder class action against AMP, which will earn its partner Burford Capital a record low 10 percent of any recovery, sets a new standard in class action litigation funding, and is expected to spark greater price competition in the industry.
It warned offenders, and then it won its first case. Now with the one-year anniversary of laws protecting small businesses from unfair contracts ticking over, expect the consumer regulator to take no prisoners, lawyers say.
Lawyers are advising large companies to look hard at their business plans to keep on the good side of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission now that the enforcer has a new arsenal to deploy.