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The court's authority to shut down competing class actions is no longer in doubt after Tuesday's Full Federal Court judgment in the case against GetSwift, and while there is no "silver bullet" when it comes to how judges must deal with multiple proceedings, there are key factors to weigh, the appeals court said. Here, experts provide the big takeaways from the landmark ruling.
Maurice Blackburn and Phi Finney McDonald have sidestepped a competing class action battle in the high-stakes litigation against Commonwealth Bank of Australia over alleged breaches of money laundering laws, with the firms proposing to jointly lead a consolidated class action against the bank.
Bannister Law has stepped down from leading a shareholder class action, the second major class action the firm has recently handed over to a rival firm without explanation.
Westpac-owned BankSA has admitted that convicted Ponzi schemer Michael Samra withdrew funds at "near excess" of the bank's limits and had insufficient money to honour cheques drawn on his company's bank account.
A Dick Smith shareholder has lost his bid to bring a separate proceeding against the failed home goods retailer while two class actions are afoot.
The scope of the government's power to detain individuals is "a matter of considerable public importance", a judge has said, shooting down the Commonwealth's bid for costs after it won the dismissal of a class action brought on behalf of asylum seekers who allege they were unlawfully imprisoned in Australian immigration detention centres.
Law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has launched a shareholder class action against engineering and infrastructure firm RCR Tomlinson after "catastrophic" losses caused by $57 million in write-downs on two of the company's North Queensland solar farms.
The Full Federal Court has dismissed a challenge to a ruling that chose one of three shareholder class actions to proceed against GetSwift, saying the court had the power to permanently stay competing cases. But an injunction blocking the losing law firms from communicating with clients was going too far, it said.
A groundbreaking judgment by the Full Federal Court over competing class actions will be handed down Tuesday morning and is expected to give judges much needed guidance on how to move forward when confronted, as they increasingly are, with multiple proceedings over the same alleged misconduct.