A judge has signed off on a $16.5 million settlement of a shareholder class action against collapsed engineering and construction company Forge Group.
Pizza chain Domino’s has been blasted for redactions in documents it has produced in a class action over worker pay, with a judge warning the franchisor that it could not act as “judge and jury” in deciding what information could be given to the applicant.
Two months after rejecting the deal because the litigation funder’s cut appeared excessive, a judge has approved a $42 million class action settlement with Murray Goulburn while the funder keeps up the fight over its commission.
Fast food giant Domino’s has denied allegations that it violated consumer law with the representations it made to franchisees about the agreements its workers were covered under, saying it was only giving franchisees its opinion.
A judge has rejected a proposal to jointly hear argument for approval of settlements in two class actions against milk supplier Murray Goulburn, saying the issues in one case — led by the legal team under scrutiny for alleged professional misconduct in a separate class action — could be more complicated.
The litigation funder financing the second of two recently settled shareholder class actions against Murray Goulburn will face similar scrutiny over its commission as the funder behind the first action.
A hearing for approval of a $190 million settlement in a historic class action over unpaid wages to thousands of Indigenous workers has been adjourned to next month after a judge appointed a referee to scrutinise the fees charged by the law firm behind the case.
Whether judges can alter the terms of litigation funding agreements in class actions is a question that will remain unsettled for now, after litigation funder IMF Bentham chose to sidestep a lengthy, costly and risky challenge to the reach of the court’s powers.
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.
Women’s fashion designer Pinnacle Runway is challenging a ruling that found a rival’s use of the name ‘Delphine’ to describe a bikini style did not constitute trade mark infringement, but the challenge might cost more than the fight is worth, after a judge found the company had already spent “many times more in legal costs” then it could hope to recover.