On 12 May, the UK High Court refused permission for environmental group ClientEarth to continue its claim against the directors of Shell plc (Directors) for their alleged failure to manage climate...
Partners Robert Johnston, Felicity Karageorge, Rena Solomonidis, Special Counsel Nicholas Briggs and Senior Associate Sara Gaertner have written the Australian chapter in The Law Reviews 7th...
On 24 March 2023, the Civil Procedure (Representative Proceedings) Act 2022 (WA Act) commenced. The WA Act introduces an updated and more cohesive mechanism for bringing class actions in WA.
On 16 February 2023, the Attorney-General’s Department released its much-anticipated Final Report (Report) on the Review of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). The Report is the culmination...
A class action has been filed in the Federal Court in respect of the Medibank data breach, funded by large domestic litigation funder Omni Bridgeway.
Allen v G8 Education Ltd [2022] VSC 32. The group costs order (GCO) regime allows law firms in class actions to recover legal fees and expenses as a percentage of any award or settlement. The...
The plaintiffs in two competing class actions relating to car dealer “add-on” insurance have successfully applied to consolidate proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria as a solution to the...
‘Class action waiver’ clauses are clauses under which a party waives their right to participate in a class action. Sometimes found in consumer agreements (particularly in the United States) such...
The first determination of an application seeking a ‘group costs order’ (GCO) was unsuccessful for the plaintiffs in two flex commission class actions in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
The High Court has today handed down its landmark decision in WorkPac Pty Ltd v. Rossato & Ors, and overturned the Full Federal Court decision of May 2021 by finding that Mr Rossato was a casual...
On 9 July 2021, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued Consultation Paper 345 – Litigation funding schemes: Guidance and relief (CP 345). CP 345 contains ASIC’s proposed...
Partner Robert Johnston, Senior Associate Nicholas Briggs and Senior Associate Sara Gaertner have written the Australian chapter in The Law Reviews 5th edition of The Class Actions Law Review.
“Auctions” or “beauty parades” are here to stay in class actions and so we will continue to see a race to file with multiple law firms and multiple funders vying for the ”prize” of being selected...
The Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of New South Wales look to have brought the practice of pre-settlement class closures to an end, at least for the time being.
On 30 November 2020, Murphy J published his reasons for approving the $95 million settlement of the Spotless Group Holdings Ltd (Spotless) class action. As is the case with most judgements in this...
Sweeping proposed industrial relations reforms introduced by the Federal Government on 9 December 2020 could change the nature of work for Australia’s estimated 2.6 million casual workers.
On 10 November 2020, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia overturned orders made by Justice Lee which required the litigation funder to provide security for costs in two class actions...
Guidance on Australia’s class actions, including insights on some of the latest developments related to common fund orders, market-based causation, competing class actions, litigation funding and...
First, on 29 November 2019, the Queensland floods class action judgement was delivered by Beech-Jones J in Rodriguez & Sons Pty Ltd v Queensland Bulk Water Supply Authority trading as Seqwater (No...
The Myer continuous disclosure class action decision1 is a landmark: the first judgment in a securities class action in Australia, and the first case explicitly accepting “market-based causation...
We have started to see the Federal Court use its discretionary powers in respect of class actions to order defendants to disclose their insurance policies to plaintiffs.