Class action settlement negotiations are often hindered by uncertainty about the number and identity of potential claimants A recent decision of the Supreme Court of NSW has paved the way for defendants to achieve greater certainty in respect of unregistered class members at an earlier stage than ...

In a recent decision, the High Court considered that a successful class action defendant cannot rely on mere failure by members of a class action to opt out of group proceedings to establish that these members are subsequently prevented from raising other claims ...

Perhaps the most important unanswered question in Australian class action law has been how causation may be established in a shareholder class action After more than a decade of uncertainty the Supreme Court of NSW has ruled that shareholders can prove causation by establishing that the price of the ...

In a recent Federal Court decision Justice Murphy refused to approve the settlement agreement between the parties to the Willmott class action finding that the terms of the settlement were not fair and reasonable ...

The High Court today held that parties and regulators are permitted to put before the court an agreed position as to the value of a penalty reached as part of a settlement agreement Our Regulatory team reports ...

The Victorian Court of Appeal has refused an application for leave to appeal against the enforcement of an arbitral award The applicants applied for leave to appeal on the basis that enforcement of the award would be contrary to public policy as it would give effect to double recovery by the ...

The Full Federal Court has ordered an anti-suit injunction against the applicant and a group member in the Treasury Wine Estates shareholder class action preventing the taking of oral depositions from US-based employees under US court procedures Partner Duncan Travis and Associate Michela Agnoletti ...

A recent Federal Court case has reinforced that if a vendors information memoranda is inaccurate disclaimers wont save the vendor and the contract can be terminated or a substantial damages judgment awarded Partner Alister Fitzgerald and Senior Associate Jaelle Berkovits examine this important ...

The High Court ruled that certain mining leases in WA did not extinguish all native title rights, but rather the two rights co-exist. In doing so, the High Court took the opportunity to clarify the test for determining when native title rights will be extinguished by statutory grants at common law. ...

At a time of increasing shareholder activism a recent decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court has confirmed that activist shareholders have a very limited part to play in the exercise of a boards power in the management of a company Partners Kim Reid and Julian Donnan and Associate Manu ...