Concerns behind criticism that courts aren’t equipped to assess a class action funder’s commission are exaggerated, and the fixing by judges of reasonable remuneration, at least in other cases, is nothing new, a Federal Court judge has said.
A $25 million settlement has been reached in three long-running shareholder class actions over the collapse of electronics retailer Dick Smith, under which the funders that backed the litigation will not recover their costs and shareholders recoveries will be small.
Data technology company Sarb Management Group has been granted leave to amend its patent infringement cross claim against Vehicle Monitoring Systems in a lawsuit over Melbourne parking detectors, claiming VMS’ patents for the device should be revoked because one of its key inventors’ contribution is not recognised.
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.
Last-mile logistics software company GetSwift has ceased trading on the ASX after its relocation to Canada got the greenlight by the Federal Court and FIRB despite the company facing ongoing litigation in Australia.
Shareholders of collapsed vocational training company Vocation are poised to get about half of a $50 million settlement reached last month in a complex, long-running class action alleging the company failed to make adequate disclosures about its contracts with the Victorian Department of Education.
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 prefab concrete specialist behind Sydney’s Opal Tower has appealed a ruling letting its insurers off the hook to pay costs in advance incurred in defending cross-claims in two lawsuits over the ill-fated tower.
Convenience store chain 7-Eleven has asked the High Court to find courts do not have the power to make common fund orders at settlement or judgment in a class action, one year after the High Court ruled common fund orders could not be made in the early part of a representative proceeding.
A judge has found that a plan by last mile logistics software company GetSwift to relocate to Canada in the midst of ongoing civil litigation would not “disproportionately prejudice” ASIC, which is seeking penalties against the company.