After almost five years of litigation, a Federal Court judge said he will approve a $127.1 million settlement of five class actions against Volkswagen over the diesel emissions scandal, but appeared unwilling to sign off on a 25 per cent uplift in fees sought by one of the plaintiffs firms.
The NSW government has flagged a possible challenge to a class action over Sydney’s $3 billion delayed light rail project as the four-week trial scheduled for June is pushed back another year to allow time for more discovery.
Companies and other defendants forked over big sums last year to settle more than 20 class actions, with a total of at least $734 million being paid out. Here are the top 10 class action settlements and the law firms and funders that negotiated them.
The judge overseeing the settlement approval process in multiple class actions against Volkswagen over the diesel emissions scandal has criticised an application for a common fund order by the funder backing two Bannister Law-led lawsuits.
Former Wallabies fullback Israel Folau has settled his lawsuit against Rugby Australia and NSW Rugby alleging his $5.7 million contract was unfairly terminated over homophobic social media posts.
Former Wallabies player Israel Folau, who was sacked over homophobic social media posts, has increased the damages he is seeking in his unfair dismissal case against Rugby Australia, calling for $14 million in compensation as “Australia’s best player”.
The litigation funder that backed a now dismissed class action against aviation service provider Airservices has argued funders should not face costs orders in Fair Work class actions, with a judge saying the debate raised “a point of high principle”.
A subpoena issued by the daughter of mining magnate Gina Rinehart seeking documents from Corrs Chambers Westgarth, the law firm representing her mother’s company, has been set aside by a judge, who found the material had no forensic purpose in the family’s long-running fight over a $5 billion trust.
A challenge by Quinn Emanuel to a NSW Supreme Court decision staying its shareholder class action against AMP has been unanimously dismissed by the Court of Appeal, which found the class action beauty contest was not decided in error and that subsequently filed representative proceedings were not an abuse of process.
Volkswagen is nearing the end of the road in the dieselgate scandal in Australia, as the car company agrees to an in-principle resoltion of enforcement action by the ACCC while also finalising the details of the settlement of five class actions worth up to $127 million.