Judgments in two appeals challenging the legality of common fund orders issued by courts in class actions will be handed down this week, and the rulings could have a profound effect on how class actions are run by lawyers and their funders in the future.
A damages battle in an infringement case over two patents for the ubiquitous plastic produce containers found in grocery stores across Australia is over, with the fight settling ahead of a hearing.
The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union has lost a battle with liquidators for failed labour hire business One Key Workforce over access to $1 million it said was owed in unpaid wages only to its members.
The former chief financial officer for Calvary Health Care has been convicted and sentenced after pleading guilty to making false records that misstated the company’s revenue by millions of dollars.
ASIC will soon have more ammunition to go after corporate wrongdoers, after the Senate passed legislation that arms the regulator to seek harsher civil and criminal sanctions against banks, their executives and others that breach the corporate and financial services law.
The judge overseeing the marathon trial between agricultural giants Cargill and Viterra over the $420 million sale of malt producer Joe White has shot down objections to both parties’ expert reports related to whether it was common industry practice to cheat customers by failing to comply with contract details and providing misleading malt test results.
Optus has been ordered to pay $10 million in penalties for billing unwitting customers for premium mobile phone services, the consumer regulator said Wednesday.
Accounting firm Pitcher Partners will challenge a ruling that it owes a NSW bus operator $5.6 million in damages for fraudulently concealing a costly amortisation error.
Class action experts have come to the defence of boutique law firm Phi Finney McDonald as heavyweight Maurice Blackburn appeals a judge’s ruling to choose the “less experienced” firm to lead a shareholder class action against BHP Billiton.
An unprecedented joint-sitting of two appeals courts will this week hear a constitutional challenge to the power of judges to make so-called common fund orders, a challenge that could have significant ramifications for class actions even if they don’t fall foul of the ‘vibe of the thing’.