The Federal Court of Australia has granted relief to a company under section 1317S of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ("Act") following declarations that it contravened two civil penalty provisions in relation to one of its...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
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
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 Applicant's Claims -
In July 2020, Ms. Kathleen O'Donnell commenced a representative proceeding on her own behalf and on behalf of all persons who at any time on or since 7 July 2020 have acquired certain types of...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
Australia's product liability regime is a combination of provisions contained primarily in the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)). These provisions apply to Australian made...more
On 10 August 2021, the Australian Parliament passed the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 1) Bill, which will permanently reform its continuous disclosure regime and related prohibitions on misleading conduct by...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
REST and Statewide Superannuation become the first industry superannuation funds to be caught in the crosshairs of ASIC's "why not litigate" approach to enforcement.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission...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
A major superannuation fund has promised to enhance its management of climate change risks, disclose to members how those risks are addressed and align its investment portfolios to net-zero emissions by 2050.
In mid-2018,...more
Australia's landmark Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry that was conducted throughout 2018 and reported in early 2019 highlighted numerous examples of potential...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
Recent strategies and initiatives announced by Australia's corporate and prudential regulators and the Australian government's release in August 2019 of its Financial Services Royal Commission Implementation Roadmap provide a...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
Product recalls are becoming increasingly common. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") and industry-specific regulators are very active in both overseeing product recalls and prosecuting non-compliance...more
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