Class action risk is changing A new wave of entrepreneurialism by plaintiff lawyers and litigation funders has substantially changed class action dynamics in recent times The 25th anniversary of the class action regime is a good opportunity to reflect on whether in the light of those and other ...

The recent settlement of the Great Southern class action raises a number of interesting and important issues not only because the court took the unusual step of publishing its reasons for judgment after the settlement had been announced ...

In recent months the funding of class actions has been prominent in the legal press The issues canvassed have included the regulation of third party funders the case for and against lawyers charging contingency fees attempts by lawyers to establish third party funding vehicles the Productivity ...

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 decision in Paciocco v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, provides welcome clarity on the application of the 'penalties rule' implicating a broad range of sectors. ...

The Full Federal Court has held that when the court is faced with multiple competing class actions in relation to the same issue it can choose one to proceed and stay the others In doing so it said that there is no one size fits all solution to the problem of competing class actions and that ...

The case of Cantor v Audi provides insights into what you should consider before providing privileged documents to a regulator. ...

Perhaps the most important unanswered question in Australian class action law is how causation may be established in the context of a shareholder class action In the United States this issue has been addressed by the fraud on the market theory This week the US Supreme Court rejected a challenge to ...

The recent Great Southern class action settlement included a term by which group members acknowledged and admitted that loans taken out with independent financiers to finance investments in Great Southern managed investment schemes were valid and enforceable Two separate Victorian Supreme Court ...

The VLRC has completed its review of Victoria's class action regime, with a particular focus on the effect of litigation funding. The report calls for national regulation of litigation funding, lifting the ban on contingency fees and a greater supervisory role for the Victorian Supreme Court. ...