As we reach the 30-year anniversary of the modern form of class action in Australia, an enduring characteristic of class action practice in this country is that the area is not well-suited to those who enjoy certainty or predictability, say Jason Betts, Aoife Xuereb and Melissa Gladstone-Joyce of Herbert Smith Freehills.
The maker of Mother brand energy drinks has filed an appeal challenging a judge’s decision to remove two of its registered ‘Mother’ trade marks for non-use.
A class action settlement with Woolworths which “troubled” a Federal Court judge has been abandoned, with the lead applicants resuming their bid to intervene in a parallel proceeding brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman against the supermarket giant.
Three decades on from its rocky beginnings, when representatives of the coalition opposition decried the Part IVA bill as a “monstrosity” and as “looney”, “half baked” and “wrong” during parliamentary debates, the class action procedure and its legitimacy and efficacy have come to gain acceptance across the spectrum of practitioners and among the judiciary, says Maurice Blackburn’s Julian Schimmel.
The former general counsel of UK-based fintech Littlepay has filed a $300,000 lawsuit accusing her former employer of bullying and discrimination upon her return to work following the birth of her twins.
HWL Ebsworth’s clients suffered a staggering $130 million loss when the law firm’s solicitors failed to notice “obvious red flags” in a joint venture contract for an ambitious Sydney-based land development, a court has heard.
Nando’s Australia has been criticised for claiming that its costs in a dispute against a single franchisee could reach close to $2 million, with an associate judge saying the bill could kickstart a precedent that leads to “the end of litigation as we know it”.
ANZ has hit back at claims in a class action that it slugged retrospective interest on credit card accounts and that its interest terms were not explicit, arguing the term ‘retrospective’ is liable to “confuse” the issues to be decided by the court.
Over the last 30 years, the class action regimes have undoubtedly improved access to justice, helped to resolve disputes more efficiently, and reduced the costs of litigation. While the current spotlight on the role of litigation funding and returns to group members is warranted, other aspects of the regimes are ripe for reform, say Clayton Utz partners Greg Williams, Andrew Morrison, Alexandra Rose and senior associate Will Atfield.
Mitsubishi has denied class action allegations that it made misleading fuel efficiency representations on labels affixed to the windshields of over 70,000 Triton Utes, and says it can’t be sued under the Australian Consumer Law because the labels were required by law.