An opt out notice proposed to be given to group members in an underpayment class action against a unit of labour hire firm Tandem has been criticised by a judge as skewed to details of their exposure to cross-claims by the company.
A judge has allowed a unit of recruitment firm Tandem to file cross-claims against individual group members in an underpayment class action, in a rare move that may spark important changes in representative proceedings.
Payouts in class actions in 2020 largely kept pace with the previous year despite the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, with companies and other defendants paying more than $696 million to settle class actions last year.
A unit of telecommunications contractor Tandem has lost an appeal in its fight over the validity of a sham contracting class action by technicians alleging they were misclassified as contractors and wrongly denied benefits.
A fight is brewing over whether US and UK passengers aboard the Ruby Princess should be part of a class action against cruise operators Carnival and Princess Cruise Lines over their handling of a deadly coronavirus outbreak on the ship that has been linked to at least 20 deaths.
An upcoming legal battle over whether counterclaims can be brought against non-party group members in a class action against a unit of recruiter Tandem could hamper bookbuilding efforts by making class actions less attractive to group members, an expert has told Lawyerly.
A subsidiary of workforce management company Tandem, which contracts with Telstra and Optus, has foreshadowed future cross-claims against group members who claim they were misclassified as contractors and denied employment benefits.
A judge overseeing the Ruby Princess class action has cautioned funders against “double dipping” when seeking payouts from group members, while cruise line Carnival has attempted to shift part of the blame for the COVID-19 debacle onto the Prime Minister.
A judge has granted a mid-trial bid to bring in “potentially quite significant” new evidence in a class action against Ford over its allegedly defective PowerShift transmissions, finding the failure to file the material earlier was not deliberate but a “mistake” on the part of the lead applicant’s solicitors at Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
The judge hearing a class action trial against Ford over its allegedly defective Powershift transmission has rejected the car maker’s argument that certain documents should be suppressed because they hold trade secrets, saying Ford did not invent the 6 Sigma problem solving method on which some of the reports were based.