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Hancock Prospecting avoids $3M discovery hit
Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting has avoided a discovery order that would cost an estimated $3 million to comply with, with a judge instead ordering that limited discovery be given to two Rinehart children in an ongoing family dispute over titles for the Hope Down iron ore mine.
Court urged to reject law firm’s contingency fee bid in ANZ, Westpac class actions
A Victoria Supreme Court judge weighing for the first time an application by a law firm for a percentage cut of recoveries in class actions has been told to reject the bid because group members would fare better under the firm's current no win, no fee funding arrangement.
$1.3M awarded to Queensland floods class action sample group members
A judge has awarded four sample group members in the Queensland floods class action $1.28 million in compensation, finding that charitable payments did not affect the amount of interest payable on the damages they are owed.
Court OKs $440M settlement in Queensland floods class action
A $440 million settlement by the State of Queensland and dam operator Sunwater resolving a class action over the 2011 Queensland floods has been approved by a NSW judge.
Law firm should rethink putting up own solicitor as expert in group costs order bid, judge says
The judge overseeing the first ever bid for a group costs order in a class action that will give the plaintiff's law firm a percentage cut of the proceeds has urged the firm to rethink characterising its own solicitor as an expert.
High Court rejects Rinehart’s ‘very odd’ special leave bid in dispute over mining assets
The High Court has rejected special leave applications by mining magnate Gina Rinehart to appeal a ruling which only partially stayed a legal dispute over ownership rights and royalties relating to the Rinehart family-owned Hope Downs iron ore mine, with one judge calling the mining magnate's arguments a "tortured articulation" and "very odd". 
Law firm racked up $60M legal bill in Queensland floods class action
The law firm behind a long-running class action over the 2011 floods in Queensland which reached a $440 million partial settlement last month has estimated that its legal bill to date totals around $60 million.
$440M settlement reached in Queensland floods class action
The State of Queensland and subcontractor Sunwater have agreed to pay $440 million to settle part of a class action over the 2011 floods in Queensland that destroyed 2,000  homes in the state.
Top 10 class action settlements of 2020
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.
Disaster payments can’t limit damages in Queensland floods class action, judge says
A judge has ruled that disaster payments cannot be taken into consideration in assessing damages in a long-running class action over the 2011 Queensland floods that destroyed 2,000 homes and claimed 12 lives.