A law firm that ran two class actions over the St Patrick’s Day bushfires has lost a bid to have group members foot the bill for $50,000 in adverse costs, with a judge saying there was “no basis” for the request.
Sydney-based plastic surgeon Daniel Lanzer is facing a potential class action lawsuit in the wake of a damning Four Corners investigation which accused him of “gruesome” and “barbaric” practices.
South Australian Power Networks has reportedly agreed to pay $2.25 million to settle a class action brought by the victims of the 2019 Yorketown bushfire.
A class action against the executors of the late South Australian pastoralist Thomas Brinkworth has been brought on behalf of landowners whose properties were damaged in a fire in Lucindale last summer.
Maddens Lawyers is investigating a potential class action over the Mount Mackenzie Road fire in Tenterfield, NSW, allegedly caused by power lines operated by Essential Energy.
A $150 million class action has been launched against South Australian power company SA Power Networks over the December 2019 Cudlee Creek bushfire, which destroyed over 96 homes in the state and led to one death.
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.
A judge will appoint an independent barrister to determine the allocation of settlement proceeds between insured group members and their insurers from two St Patrick’s Day bushfire class actions, finding that the ‘overly combative’ conduct of law firm Maddens warranted the appointment despite the extra costs involved.
A judge has signed off on nearly $3.4 million in costs in a $5.7 million settlement reached in a class action over a 2016 stampede at the Falls Music and Arts Festival in Victoria.
The Andrews government is facing another COVID-19 related class action, this one on behalf of farm operators financially stung by Victorian and South Australian border closures.