A challenge to the legality of common fund orders, an appeal to the High Court over the power of judges to stay competing cases, one of the first judgments in a shareholder class action and reform proposals promise to make 2019 another action-packed year in class actions. Here, experts give their predictions for the class action landscape this year.
Last year was an exciting one for class action lawyers, with monumental court decisions on competing cases, cross-jurisdictional spats, proportionality in settlements and the power of judges to decide how a recovery is distributed. Here, top class action litigators tell us what the most significant rulings of 2018 were and why the decisions will continue to matter this year.
As judges grapple with fierce competition among litigation funders and law firms to lead class actions, Lawyerly asked two leading practitioners on opposing sides of the class action divide to give us their take on the issue.
The two criminal cartel cases brought by the ACCC in the past three months are just the beginning, lawyers say, with three or four more criminal matters expected to be brought by the end of the year.
Regulating third-party litigation funders gets a resounding yes, but experts are divided on removing the ban on contingency fees and other recommendations for reforming the class action regime. Lawyerly spoke to defence and plaintiff-side lawyers, as well as funders, for their take on the recent proposals, and five major talking points emerged.
Clayton Utz’s public statements referencing its terms of engagement with AMP in drafting an independent report are irrelevant if it knew the document was destined for the corporate regulator, legal experts say, and transcripts from the Royal Commission suggest the law firm did know.