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.
Adero Law has filed class actions against labour hire companies Hays and Stellar Personnel on behalf of casual miners who allege they were entitled to accrued leave, on the eve of what’s expected to be a banner year for employment class actions in Australia.
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.
In a situation a judge has called “extraordinary and troubling”, Deloitte’s files on failed construction company Hastie — sought as evidence by shareholders in a class action — have vanished from the accounting giant’s locked ‘litigation room’ and are now in the control of a single partner who refuses to return them.
A multi-million dollar settlement has been reached in a shareholder class action against private training company Ashley Services over its $67 million tumble two years ago.
A case that challenges the test for determining casual employment under the Fair Work Act is a matter of public importance and will be heard by the Full Federal Court, the court’s top judge has said.
Employment relations company Employsure has been taken to court by the consumer watchdog for allegedly duping small businesses into signing long-term contracts after promising free workplace advice that appeared to be government affiliated.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has lost an appeal of a ruling that dismissed its case over allegedly inadequate disclosures by private health insurer Medibank relating to member benefits.
The law firms that challenged a ruling staying their cases against GetSwift gave the Full Federal Court a chance to guide judges managing competing class actions, but they can’t avoid paying their opponents’ legal costs because the court happened to seize the opportunity.
The lead applicant in a class action over the failure of Banksia Securities is on the hook for paying the legal costs of a class member who successfully challenged the funder’s cut of a $64 million settlement in the case.