Perhaps a point of equilibrium?
Coming off the second biggest year of class action filings of all time, there was a modest decline in filings in 2024. However, on close analysis of the data, class action risk is broadly in-line with recent years.
The principal reason for the reduction in filings was a sharp fall in competing class actions (ie multiple claims brought against the same defendant concerning the same or similar issues), which accounted for less than 10% of filings in 2024 (having accounted for approximately one-quarter of claims filed in 2023). In fact, when competing class actions are excluded from the data, the total number of unique class action filings in 2024 was the third highest on record (and higher than 2023).
Bearing in mind that 2020 was an outlier year, and the filings across 2021 and 2022 may be viewed in aggregate,1 in applying a long-term assessment of the data it appears we might have reached (at least temporarily) a point of equilibrium where the annual volume of unique subject-matter filings may be expected to sit at approximately 45-50 claims.
Consumer claims continue to dominate
Continuing a trend that we have observed for several years now, consumer claims continue to dominate the class action landscape, accounting for approximately 43% of filings in 2024. Shareholder claims have declined, while public interest filings have doubled year-on-year.
Unlike recent years, where class actions against automakers accounted for a substantial proportion of consumer claims, in 2024 a very broad base of claims brought on behalf of consumers were filed, including:
- several product liability class actions relating to medical and pharmaceutical products (which primarily followed in the slipstream of equivalent claims in the United States);
- claims against retailers relating to discounting practices and consumer warranties; and
- further claims against automakers concerning alleged manufacturing defects.
The subject matter of the other consumer claims included flight credits, building products, insurance premiums and superannuation fees.
Shareholder claims, which have long been a popular form of class action, did not account for any filings until the second half of the year, with four claims filed over the final months of 2024. We discuss recent trends with shareholder class actions later in this report.
The other takeaways from the 2024 filings include:
- a material increase in public interest claims, including class actions relating to indigenous housing conditions, the detention of refugees, indigenous fisheries, the removal of First Nations children from their families, policing in the Northern Territory and surcharge payments charged by the state of Victoria to foreign land purchasers; and
- a steady rate of employee class actions, brought in connection with alleged underpayments and sexual harassment issues.
Government leads pack in a broad field
In a continuation of a trend observed over recent years, in 2024 class action filings were spread across a range of sectors.
In 2024, the sector subject to the highest number of claims was government, which accounted for approximately 22% of filings. The resurgence of claims against the Government signals a return to the position in 2021 and 2022 when the Government was the primary target of class action proceedings. In large part, the influx of government claims was attributable to the spike in public interest class actions (including those mentioned in the previous section of the report).
The healthcare, banks & financial services and industrials sectors each accounted for approximately 14-16% of filings.
The healthcare claims were comprised of four product liability proceedings and three claims brought in connection with the alleged underpayment of junior doctors. For several years now, class action promoters have maintained a keen appetite to pursue underpayment claims on behalf of junior doctors and, following a number of settlements in 2024, there may be more of these claims to come (across the healthcare and other sectors).
After a number of years of intense class action activity, 2024 marked the third year running that the major banks did not face any class action filings (although there was one proceeding filed against a subsidiary on behalf of former franchisees). The subject matter of the claims in the banks & financial services sector included superannuation fees, insurance premiums, the sale of complex financial products and credit ratings.
Class action claims in the industrials sector included three filings against automakers and claims brought against a building company, a manufacturer of building supplies, a water treatment company and a global manufacturing company.
In 2023, the retail & hospitality sector was the target of the most class action claims, principally in connection with the alleged underpayment of employees and failure to provide rest breaks. In 2024, the proportion of claims filed in the retail & hospitality sector more than halved year-on-year, with no employment claims commenced in this sector. The claims brought against retailers across 2024 related to discounting practices, product warranties and a shareholder class action.
Federal Court remains jurisdiction of choice
Consistent with a long-running trend, in 2024 the Federal Court remained the jurisdiction of choice for class action promoters, accounting for approximately two-thirds of all class action filings (with the overwhelming majority of claims filed across the NSW and Victorian registries of the court).
Similar to recent years, following the introduction of the 'group costs order' regime (which permits plaintiff lawyers to obtain contingency fees in class action proceedings), the Supreme Court of Victoria remained in clear second place, attracting almost one in four of the claims filed over the year.
There were a handful of class actions filed across other jurisdictions, including two claims in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, one claim in the Supreme Court of Queensland, one claim in the Supreme Court of Tasmania and the first ever class action filed in the Supreme Court of Western Australia (following the introduction of the WA class action regime in 2023).
There are no signs that the concentration of filings across the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Victoria is poised to shift over the foreseeable future.
Footnotes
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In late 2021, the former federal government proposed legislation introducing a rebuttable presumption that returns to class action promoters must not exceed 30% of the proceeds of a claim. The proposed legislation led to a surge in filings in late 2021, with 16 claims filed over the final five weeks of the year, including several claims that were likely slated for 2022 but were commenced on an accelerated basis before the proposed legislation came into effect.