Last year was an exciting one for class action lawyers, with monumental court decisions on competing cases, cross-jurisdictional spats, proportionality in settlements and the power of judges to decide how a recovery is distributed. Here, top class action litigators tell us what the most significant rulings of 2018 were and why the decisions will continue to matter this year.
Debt collector ACM Group has been hit with a $750,000 fine for engaging in unconscionable conduct by misleading, harassing and coercing two vulnerable customers while chasing unpaid debts.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission wants to block former We Buy Houses director Rick Otton from using the proceeds from the sale of his $3.6 million Bondi home to help with legal costs and living expenses as he appeals a record $6 million fine for consumer law violations.
The law firms that challenged a ruling staying their cases against GetSwift gave the Full Federal Court a chance to guide judges managing competing class actions, but they can’t avoid paying their opponents’ legal costs because the court happened to seize the opportunity.
Hotel booking aggregator Trivago, which last month admitted to breaching the consumer laws over its travel accommodation rankings, has lost a bid to keep secret internal documents that detail why the company made changes to its website and rejigged its advertising.
Three former executives of failed Gold Coast finance company MFS Group have lost their challenge to a ruling that they misappropriated $147.5 million in funds prior to the company’s collapse.
Law firm Squire Patton Boggs is taking a fight over a ruling that shut down its shareholder class action against logistics startup GetSwift to the High Court.
The consumer watchdog has sought more than $1.5 million in penalties against debt collector ACM Group after the company was found liable for harassing vulnerable customers, but a judge on Tuesday questioned whether the fine, which could leave the company insolvent, was too punitive.
The Commonwealth has urged the court to strike out the “inconsistent” pleadings of pharmaceutical firms Otsuka and Bristol-Myers Squibb in a patent case over the antipsychotic drug Abilify, calling them a “scandal” which could bring disrepute to the administration of justice.
A shareholder class action led by Bannister Law against sandalwood oil producer Quintis will be absorbed by rival law firm Gadens in a consolidation agreement that ends a battle over the competing cases.