The High Court is poised this week to issue its judgment in a case challenging the validity of common fund orders in class actions, a ruling that could see litigation funding commission rates creep back up after hitting record lows.
The careful, methodical approach of 20-year class action veteran and Allens partner Jenny Campbell is in demand in the fast-changing class action world, where the only certainty is uncertainty.
The Full Federal Court is set to hear appeals in four class actions in the August sitting, giving the court a chance to address important issues, including cost-capping in joint class actions and security for costs in unfunded cases. Here, we give you the run-down on each of the upcoming challenges.
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.
Australia’s four biggest lenders had an expensive year in court last year, but with cases spilling over into the new year and the fallout from the Royal Commission expected to see a litigation blitz by regulators and class action lawyers, much more is in store for the banks in 2019. Here, Lawyerly takes a look at the court cases facing ANZ Banking Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac Banking Corp so far this year.
A challenge to the legality of common fund orders, an appeal to the High Court over the power of judges to stay competing cases, one of the first judgments in a shareholder class action and reform proposals promise to make 2019 another action-packed year in class actions. Here, experts give their predictions for the class action landscape this year.
Last year was an exciting one for class action lawyers, with monumental court decisions on competing cases, cross-jurisdictional spats, proportionality in settlements and the power of judges to decide how a recovery is distributed. Here, top class action litigators tell us what the most significant rulings of 2018 were and why the decisions will continue to matter this year.
As judges grapple with fierce competition among litigation funders and law firms to lead class actions, Lawyerly asked two leading practitioners on opposing sides of the class action divide to give us their take on the issue.
The two criminal cartel cases brought by the ACCC in the past three months are just the beginning, lawyers say, with three or four more criminal matters expected to be brought by the end of the year.
Regulating third-party litigation funders gets a resounding yes, but experts are divided on removing the ban on contingency fees and other recommendations for reforming the class action regime. Lawyerly spoke to defence and plaintiff-side lawyers, as well as funders, for their take on the recent proposals, and five major talking points emerged.