The NSW government’s Sydney Olympic Park Authority, which is facing a class action brought by owners of apartments at the troubled Opal Tower, has laid the blame on the developer, designer and builder behind the project.
The law firm behind multiple government class actions over major construction projects, including the Sydney Light Rail proceeding, is investigating a new case against a Melbourne council after a major development allegedly left local businesses struggling to survive.
Against a backdrop of an industrial relations system which has diminished union and workers’ power, class actions are again re-emerging as an alternative tool to challenge employers’ unlawful conduct. And in the current class actions landscape, the ability to run closed class proceedings on behalf of union members, or otherwise offer alternative fee arrangements to non-members in open class proceedings, is essential to trade unions’ willingness to embrace the representative proceeding regime, writes Slater & Gordon lawyer Alex Blennerhassett.
The judge overseeing the Ethicon pelvic mesh class action has flagged serious public policy concerns stemming from class identification problems, amid fears that “poorer” patients in the public health system would be less likely to be notified of their rights compared to those in the private system.
Lawyers pursuing a class action against Scenic Tours on behalf of passengers whose European cruises were interrupted by severe flooding have been granted preliminary discovery as they weigh a second multi-million dollar class action against the company over cancellations caused by last year’s severe drought conditions.
A judge overseeing a settled class action against failed Banksia Securities has rejected an application to limit a contradictor’s investigation of alleged professional misconduct on the part of the legal team and funder behind the case, saying he was satisfied there was a proper basis for the allegations.
A judge has indicated he will approve a confidential settlement in a class action brought by a litigation guardian of young Indigenous Australian detainees against the Northern Territory Government alleging human rights abuses.
This month’s decision by the Queensland Supreme Court confirming the validity of the class action funding business model in jurisdictions whose legislatures have not abolished the tort of maintenance and champerty is a landmark one, writes Piper Alderman partners Greg Whyte and Lillian Rizio.
The judge overseeing competing employment class actions on behalf of casual coal miners against WorkPac has ordered the law firms running the cases to consider a proposal to jointly run the proceedings.
Volkswagen is nearing the end of the road in the dieselgate scandal in Australia, as the car company agrees to an in-principle resoltion of enforcement action by the ACCC while also finalising the details of the settlement of five class actions worth up to $127 million.