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.
Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram have lost a bid to shut down a lawsuit brought by an Australian social media startup, with a judge finding the digital giants relinquished their right to move the dispute to California.
A judge has found a NSW training company is liable to pay $139 million for over 12,000 students who racked up VET FEE-HELP debts but failed to complete their courses due to an “unconscionable” enrolment system.
Rival bookmakers Sportsbet and Sportsbetting.com.au have reached a settlement in their trade mark and consumer law dispute, agreeing to drop their claims against each other for unspecified terms.
A judge has signalled his intention to sign off on a $138 million settlement in a class action against IAG and approve a common fund order that gives the litigation funder a $34.5 million commission, but an application by the funder for reimbursement of after-the-event insurance has been refused.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has taken franchise giant Retail Food Group to court for allegedly misleading purchasers of loss-making franchises about the profitability or viability of its stores.
The Federal Court judge who is now overseeing a high stakes criminal cartel case against several investment banks and individuals over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement has ordered that an indictment be filed by February 1, telling the parties “we have to get this case moving” and that he hoped to move the matter to trial “before we all retire”.
The son of the funder behind a class action at the centre of scandalous misconduct claims says he would have sought advice from a family friend if he had realised his father and counsel leading the case were misleading the court to inflate their profits from a $64 million settlement.
Women’s fashion designer Pinnacle Runway has cut its losses and dropped its challenge to a ruling that found a rival’s use of the name ‘Delphine’ to describe a bikini style did not constitute trade mark infringement, after a judge hit the company with indemnity costs for pursuing the ‘ill-advised’ lawsuit.
A judge has allowed documents obtained from examination proceedings against directors of Linchpin Capital to be used in a class action against the failed financial services group.