Although class actions have been common in the United States for decades, they have not been as widely used in the rest of the world. The situation and risks remain in flux, however, as more countries have renewed momentum to...more
In Short -
The Situation: In 2020, a cruise ship in Australian waters, the Ruby Princess, experienced a COVID‑19 outbreak that resulted in an Australian class action. Part of the class were passengers subject to...more
Although class actions have been common in the United States for decades, they have not been as widely used in the rest of the world. The situation and risks remain in flux, however, as more countries have renewed momentum to...more
12/22/2023
/ Article III ,
Australia ,
Class Action ,
EU ,
France ,
Germany ,
International Litigation ,
Jurisdiction ,
Settlement ,
Standing ,
UK
Although class actions have been common in the United States for decades, they have not been as widely used in the rest of the world. The situation and risks remain in flux, however, as more countries have renewed momentum to...more
Class actions have been a feature of the litigation landscape in the USA for decades. Claimant-friendly procedures combined with an aggressive and well-funded plaintiffs’ bar have created fertile ground for these large,...more
10/5/2023
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Data Breach ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Litigation Funding ,
Technology Sector ,
UK
A significant newly enacted class actions regime has come into force in Western Australia, as of 25 March 2023.
The Civil Procedure (Representative Proceedings) Act 2022 (WA) ("Act") was enacted in September 2022,...more
The French National Assembly has passed a bill intended to promote the use of class actions in line with the new EU Representative Actions Directive....more
Recent legislative and regulatory developments, including the Federal Government's draft regulations to deregulate litigation funding in class actions and the Civil Procedure (Representative Proceedings) Bill 2021, which...more
More Detail: Regulation of Litigation Funding in Class Actions
In 2009, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia, in Brookfield Multiplex Ltd v International Litigation Funding Partners Pty Ltd [2009] FCAFC 147,...more
The Facts The plaintiffs in two separate class actions (Fox v Westpac Banking Corporation & Anor (Fox) and Crawford v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd & Ors (Crawford)) sought GCOs from the court pursuant to the...more
Proposed Reforms -
The Draft Bill makes clear that 'a class action litigation funding scheme' is an MIS, in line with an earlier ruling of the Federal Court of Australia in Brookfield Multiplex Limited v International...more
The Situation: It is increasingly common for Australian class actions to be brought by private plaintiffs at the same time as regulatory proceedings are brought by Australia's corporate, competition and other regulators in...more
There is no "one size fits all" approach to competing class actions.
Five competing and overlapping shareholder class actions were commenced in two separate Australian courts against AMP Limited. All actions were...more
The Situation: Australia's Federal Government has announced that it intends to make permanent reforms introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic to continuous disclosure requirements for ASX-listed companies. The temporary...more
The Situation: Australia has become a hot spot for class actions fueled in large part by litigation funders, who have operated for many years in a largely unregulated market and have derived spectacular returns from their...more
The Background: The competing class actions, particularly in relation to shareholder claims, have increased in Australia due to the incentives in the Australian legal market, namely minimal regulation of litigation funding...more
This is Jones Day's fifth review of Australian class actions developments. The White Paper reviews the class actions that were commenced and settled in 2018–2019. The White Paper also examines the types of novel claims that...more
8/16/2019
/ Australia ,
Class Action ,
Climate Change ,
Employment Litigation ,
Financial Services Industry ,
International Litigation ,
Litigation Funding ,
Securities Litigation ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Strict Product Liability ,
Superannuation
The Situation: The Parliament of Western Australia has introduced new legislation to modernise the State's class action regime (which is seen to be outdated, uncertain and silent on many important procedural aspects of...more
Australia has started to observe a rise in the number of data breach class actions being investigated and filed, although there has not yet been a successful data breach class action there. A range of factors are at play...more
5/28/2019
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Australia ,
Breach Notification Rule ,
Class Action ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Data Protection ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
International Data Transfers ,
Popular ,
Privacy Laws
The Situation: Fernandez & Anor v State of New South Wales & Ors [2019] NSWSC 255 raised the question: In a situation where there are multiple defendants, is it necessary that a class representative have a claim against each...more
The Situation: Litigation funding is a major driver of Australian class actions. Challenges to common fund orders were mounted in the Federal Court and Supreme Court of New South Wales by defendants.
The Decision: After a...more
Courts Empowered, More Action Needed on Shareholder Claims and Contingency Fee for Class Action Lawyers to Increase Class Action Activity -
The Australian Law Reform Commission Class Action and Litigation Funding Report...more
The Situation: It is relatively uncommon in Australia for workers or employees to bring class actions against their employers in which they allege sham contracting arrangements.
The Development: Four class actions, which...more
The Situation: The court's general power to make "any order [it] thinks appropriate or necessary to ensure that justice is done" in a class action has been employed to make a wide range of orders, including to remove the...more
The Background: In a shareholder class action, the plaintiff sought discovery of documents from the defendant partnership in relation to alleged statutory contraventions associated with its role as auditor of a company that...more