While the latest round of Respect@Work reforms will likely increase litigation by shielding employees from costs in unsuccessful discrimination cases, this may not spell bad news for employers.
Expect more cybersecurity class actions following the introduction of a new statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy, experts on both sides of the bar table told Lawyerly.
A ruling this week that kept intact a contingency fee rate of 27.5 per cent sought by Slater & Gordon to run a shareholder class action against G8 Education might encourage law firms to seek higher percentage payouts at the outset of group proceedings in Victoria.
Although carefully reasoned, last week’s landmark judgment by the Full Federal Court finding power to grant contingency fees to class action solicitors has placed the question of statutory authority to award settlement common fund orders on more unsteady ground than before, experts say.
The Federal Court is set to become a more attractive forum for class actions now that the Full Court has confirmed it has power to make orders granting solicitors a contingency fee from any settlement or judgment in a group proceeding.
Former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann has yet to engage lawyers to pursue his appeal of a judge’s finding that he raped colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House, but while he has the right to represent himself, experts have told Lawyerly it would be “very unwise” for him to run the case on his own.
The score in shareholder class actions taken to trial now stands at a dismal 0-5 after a judge tossed class actions against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia on Friday. But don’t expect funders to throw in the towel until the High Court or an intermediate appellate authority has its say, experts told Lawyerly.
Workplace investigations involving unwitnessed, conflicting accounts are among the most difficult situations for an employer, but findings can still be made, despite the “common misconception” there is nothing to tip the balance, according to experts.
A landmark $230 million settlement in an underpayments class action on behalf of junior doctors in NSW shows employment group proceedings are “viable and attractive” and may encourage more players to pursue representative cases on behalf of workers, according to class action experts.
Judges experience extreme levels of stress and secondary trauma, exacerbated by public comment that is often ignorant of what the job entails. The transparent approach taken by the judge presiding over the Bruce Lehrmann case may help pave the way to alleviating some of that stress, but more needs to be done, experts say.