2026 mid-year interim class action report

Introduction 5 min read

Across the first half of 2026 class action, filing rates largely mirrored what we observed in 2025, with a broad base of claims filed across a wide range of sectors. However, following a number of key judgments and renewed discussion about funding reform, there are likely to be some significant developments to round out the year.

In this interim report, we provide a high-level overview of filings and trends over the first six months of 2026.

Filing rates in line with recent years, with an interesting second half to come  

In the first half of 2026, there were 20 class actions filed across Australia. On an annualised basis, this puts us on pace for 40 class action filings in 2026, the lowest number of new claims since 2022 and the second lowest in a decade.

However, this rate of activity is consistent with recent years, with there being an average of 18.6 class actions filed in the first six months of each of the previous five years¹ and an acceleration of new claims over the final months of the year. While it's difficult to predict what may transpire over the balance of 2026, there are a number of signs that suggest the underlying risk environment remains relatively stable, pointing towards a potential bump in filings over the coming months.  

Breaking down the numbers:

• Consumer and employee claims continue to make up the lion's share of filings, accounting for 65% of total claims filed in the first half of 2026. This is similar to what we observed in 2025, where consumer and employee claims represented 70% of all claims filed.
• In a continuation of a trend that has emerged over recent years, class action promoters appear increasingly reluctant to file competing claims. In the first half of 2026 there were no competing class action filings (following only three competing claims in 2025).
• The filings across the first half of 2026 have spanned a range of sectors including banking and financial services, government, mining, oil and gas, and retail and hospitality. Interestingly, the sector targeted most this year has been the retail and hospitality sector, representing 40% of total claims. This has been due to the continuation of wage underpayment actions against retailers and an uptick in claims against gaming companies.
• Class actions have been filed in the Federal Court and the Supreme Courts of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.

Employee and consumer claims remain in-vogue, but other risks may be looming

There remains a heightened rate of activity in the employee and consumer space. The employee and consumer claims filed so far in 2026 traverse subject matters including alleged wage underpayments, discrimination, product liability and gaming related claims.

While employee and consumer claims continue to dominate, two areas of risk to keep an eye on include:

• Cyber claims: following an extended period of inactivity, in the first half of 2026, two data breach class actions were commenced following the unauthorised access of sensitive personal health information. These filings are a notable development, marking the first data breach class actions since the Medibank and Optus claims back in 2023.² Whether data breach class actions will truly boom will likely turn on the outcome of the cases currently before the courts and whether the long- mooted direct right of action reform to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) is enacted.
• Competition claims: while there were no competition class actions commenced over the first six months of the year, we expect there to be activity moving forward, particularly misuse of market power claims. It may be that class action promoters are holding fire with commencing new claims until the assessment of loss and damage in the high-profile Apple App Store and Google Play Store class actions is finally resolved.

Shifting shareholder landscape

Only two shareholder class actions were filed in the first half of 2026. Extrapolating this, it seems that we are once again on track for a relatively muted year of shareholder class action activity.

However, as we cautioned in our Class action 2025 report, risk in the shareholder class action environment is higher than the filing statistics suggest, given a number of recent and imminent judgments. These include:

• two proceedings in which, for the first time in Australia, courts have made findings of liability, causation and loss for applicants.³ These judgments have materially lowered the threshold needed to establish a claim and obtain a remedy in shareholder class actions, including through the application of the 'facilitation principle'. However, there remains a lot of water to pass under the bridge in these proceedings, as both judgments are currently the subject of appeals; and
• the Zonia class action, which the High Court heard in June 2026. The High Court's judgment in this proceeding is set to have significant implications for the future of shareholder class actions, particularly in relation to the approach to be applied in the assessment of loss. It is anticipated that the judgment will be in the second half of the year.

Class action promoters may feel emboldened by the recent judgments, but with the appeal courts still to weigh-in, and a number of other cases still working their way through the courts (including the Boral class action where judgment has been adjourned pending the High Court decision in Zonia), it is too early to say whether the tide may have turned with these claims. It would not surprise us to see an increase in the number of shareholder filings over the second half of the year, although we do not expect such claims to suddenly rebound and return to the heights of years gone by when they were the most popular form of class action.

Is funding reform on its way to New South Wales?

There are ongoing rumblings that funding reform may be on the cards for New South Wales. As things stand, Victoria remains the only jurisdiction in Australia that permits plaintiff lawyers to obtain contingency fees in class actions (known as 'group costs orders'). The potential reform in New South Wales has been said to be necessary to correct the current imbalance in the class actions landscape. The Victorian decision to legislatively enshrine group costs orders has severely reduced the rate of filings in New South Wales, with the overwhelming majority of claims now filed in the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Stay tuned

A more comprehensive analysis of the 2026 class action landscape will be provided in our annual Class action risk report, which will be published in early 2027. In the meantime, if you have questions about anything in this interim report, please reach out to a member of our team.