Class action settlement totals skyrocketed to over $900 million last year, and one law firm negotiated the lion’s share, with $672 million in settlements under its belt.
A $38.4 million settlement in a shareholder class action against aged care provider Estia Health has been given the greenlight by a Federal Court judge, who also approved the funders’ recovery of after-the-event insurance, a decision that puts him at odds with some of his colleagues on the bench.
A judge weighing a $38.4 million settlement in a shareholder class action against aged care provider Estia Health has been told that two NSW Court of Appeal judgments barring class closure were “plainly wrong”, but in deciding whether to lock group members out of the settlement the judge says he won’t need to grapple with the landmark rulings.
A judge has rejected claims by Gladstone Ports Corporation that security for costs in a $100 million class action by commercial fishing operators should not be paid through a London-based insurer because of the impact of Brexit and COVID-19.
The former chief financial officer of Murray Goulburn has asked a judge to relieve him from any disqualification order sought by the corporate watchdog in its case over his alleged role in the milk supplier’s continuous disclosure breaches, saying he is already the subject of orders that ban him from the dairy industry.
The Queensland Supreme Court has upheld the legality of litigation funding agreements in a landmark class action judgment that could have a ripple effect across other states in Australia.
Gladstone Ports has won access to draft expert reports prepared by Clyde & Co in its $100 million class action against the Queensland government owned organisation, with a judge ruling the documents were not privileged despite their not being used in the case.