Technology company Nuix has been hit with a third shareholder class action over its troubled $1.8 billion float on the ASX, setting up what is likely to be the first beauty parade in the Supreme Court of Victoria since the state allowed class action lawyers to seek a cut of any settlement or judgment.
The law firm administering the $112 million Robodebt class action settlement has asked a court to sign off on a $2.2 million bill to cover the full projected costs of distributing the funds, a figure three times the estimate calculated by a costs referee.
Even after 30 years in action, the future of class actions in Australia remains uncertain. What is clear, however, is the impact class actions have had – for claimants, lawyers, litigation funders and for corporate Australia, writes Corrs Chambers Westgarth’s Chris Pagent, Brad Woodhouse, Alex Ji and Thomas Scott.
The Federal Court won’t permit a Melbourne-based judge to travel to Sydney on the dime of the parties in a class action against wealth management group Colonial First State, but will foot the bill itself.
The Canberra developer behind the Manhattan on the Park apartment building in the national capital has been hit with a class action on behalf of home buyers who were allegedly misled into paying GST on the price of their property.
The access to justice and efficiency objectives of the 30-year class action regime would be better served by more active scrutiny at the point of commencement, say Allens partners Belinda Thompson and Jenny Campbell.
Teleco contractor BSA has reached an in-principle settlement resolving a class action that accuses the company of misclassifying its workforce of technicians as independent contractors.
A judge has come down hard on a settlement in class actions against supermarket chain Romeo’s, saying group members had been kept in the dark and the costs to be paid to the plaintiffs’ firm did not add up.
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.
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.