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A judge has signed off on a $37.5 million Murray Goulburn class action settlement but slashed $2 million in legal costs sought by Mark Elliott's law firm, which is running the case.
Melbourne-based class action lawyer and litigation funder Mark Elliott has reportedly died in a vehicle accident on his farm in Flinders, Victoria.
The entrepreneur who funded one of two settled Murray Goulburn class actions will defend his $10.5 million cut of the $37.5 million settlement, a commission that is under scrutiny by a contradictor appointed by the judge overseeing the case.
Companies and other defendants forked over big sums last year to settle more than 20 class actions, with a total of at least $734 million being paid out. Here are the top 10 class action settlements and the law firms and funders that negotiated them.
Litigation funder IMF Bentham has thrown in the towel in a battle over its cut of a $42 million settlement in a class action against dairy cooperative Murray Goulburn, accepting the Federal Court's proposed 25 per cent commission rate after initially seeking 32 per cent.
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.
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.
ASIC and other government regulators bringing enforcement action in the docket of one Federal Court judge must abide by a strict new protocol to prevent a repeat of the corporate watchdog's "wait and see" strategy in a case against ex-Murray Goulburn directors that came close, the judge said, to bringing the administration of justice into disrepute.
A judge has refused a bid by two former Murray Goulburn executives to throw out a disqualification case brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, despite admonishing the corporate regulator for its delay in bringing the case and establishing a protocol for regulators filing cases in his docket.