The law firm running the Montara oil spill class action, which has settled for $192.5 million, is looking for a new lead applicant after the first one defected over concerns group members would lose half the settlement amount to legal costs and a funding commission.
A court has heard that casino giants Crown and Star are likely to reach agreement with AUSTRAC as to liability in proceedings alleging “widespread and serious non-compliance” with anti-money and counter terrorism laundering laws.
A class action against KPMG over the failure of six managed investment schemes for eucalyptus wood in Tasmania has settled its claims against former Tasmanian Premier Robin Gray.
Hancock Prospecting has lost a bid to shut down court cases brought by fellow mining giants Wright Prospecting and DFD Rhodes until the outcome of a family arbitration, after a judge found the company’s own forensic choices made the risk of inconsistent decisions inevitable.
Class action settlement sums reached new highs last year, with the ten largest agreements totalling almost $1 billion, almost half of which was secured by one plaintiff law firm.
The Victoria Supreme Court has dismissed a bid to quash the Environment Protection Authority’s decision to renew the mining licences of the state’s three remaining coal power stations, in a test case for the state’s Climate Change Act.
A judge has approved a group costs order with a tiered contingency fee that will guarantee group members at least 72.5 per cent of any returns in a shareholder class action accusing Crown Resorts of lax anti-money laundering compliance over a six-year period.
Queensland government-owned water services provider Sunwater has lost a bid to overturn a judgment letting insurer Liberty Mutual Insurance off the hook for its share of a $440 million settlement in the Queensland floods class action.
Westpac has lost a bid to keep group members in the dark about the premiums paid for allegedly worthless consumer credit insurance, information the bank said could inflate expectations about settlements worth $126 million reached in three class actions.
A litigation funder has abandoned its case seeking to prevent counsel retained by the lead applicant in the settled Montara oil spill class action from providing independent legal advice.