The judge overseeing a class action against Ethicon over allegedly faulty pelvic mesh implants has shot down the device maker’s bid for a class closure order.
An appeal before a historic joint sitting of two courts over so-called common fund orders in class actions kicked off Monday with a full bench of six judges and a packed courtroom hearing arguments by eminent barristers for BMW and Westpac that the orders are either preemptive or pointless.
Deloitte is challenging a judge’s ruling that certain partners not be excused from an order to produce files of the accounting giant’s audit work for Hastie Group to shareholders in a class action over the construction company’s collapse, its latest move after a failed attempt to persuade the judge that a rogue partner had taken the only copies of the files and refused to give them back.
Class action experts have come to the defence of boutique law firm Phi Finney McDonald as heavyweight Maurice Blackburn appeals a judge’s ruling to choose the “less experienced” firm to lead a shareholder class action against BHP Billiton.
An unprecedented joint-sitting of two appeals courts will this week hear a constitutional challenge to the power of judges to make so-called common fund orders, a challenge that could have significant ramifications for class actions even if they don’t fall foul of the ‘vibe of the thing’.
A class action against Ethicon over allegedly faulty pelvic mesh implants wants introduce confidential evidence from prior settlement negotiations as it attempts to shut down the medical device maker’s class closure application.
Maurice Blackburn has criticised a judge’s decision to award carriage of a massive shareholder class action against BHP over the fatal collapse of a dam at its Brazilian mine to “less experienced” firm Phi Finney McDonald, lodging what is now the second high-stakes challenge to a ruling permanently staying a competing class action.
Logistics startup GetSwift has confirmed it will fight an appeal to the High Court by law firm Squire Patton Boggs challenging a landmark ruling that permanently stayed two of three competing shareholder class actions against the company.
Businesses and other class action defendants have paid in excess of $4 billion in settlements since the class action regime was introduced in Australia, and litigation funders have pocketed about $583 million, a new report reveals.
A judge has signed off on a $16.4 million settlement of a class action against Cash Converters, but not before scrapping a clause he said tied the court’s hands by making the deal conditional on the appointment of Maurice Blackburn as scheme administrator.