The Attorney-General has announced that he has asked the Australian Law Reform Commission to inquire into class action proceedings and third party litigation funders The inquiry presents an important opportunity to take stock of how the class actions landscape has evolved particularly whether ...

Class action risk has become a major issue for boards senior management and general counsel A key question often asked in that context is whether the changing nature of the class actions landscape poses an increasing area of risk for Australian corporates ...

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 ...

A representative proceeding can only be commenced where seven or more group members have claims against the same person In proceedings with multiple respondents there has been conflicting authority as to whether each group member is required to have a claim against each respondent Last week in Cash ...

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 Victorian Law Reform Commissions inquiry into litigation funding and group proceedings provides an important and timely opportunity to reflect on the current operation of our class action regime The regime recognises and was designed to balance competing interests We believe more can be done to ...

Allens have gathered and analysed data which identifies some interesting trends that run counter to some of the typical commentary surrounding class actions in the media. ...

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 ...

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 ...

A recent High Court case which addressed the Codelfa rule did not explicitly resolve the controversy as to its application, however may be seen as a further departure from the 'ambiguity gateway' approach. ...