Class Actions - Wotton Kearney

Articles

GCOs, CFOs and soft class closure: The High Court weighing in on key class action issues

By: Amanda Beattie, Jonathon Ferraro and Madeleine Wright At a glance High Court Decision on GCOs: The High Court ruled that Group Costs Orders (GCOs) issued by the Supreme Court of Victoria (VSC) are not enforceable in other courts, influencing jurisdictional decisions in class actions. BlueSky Class Action Challenge: The Court is reviewing whether solicitors […]

By : Joshua Weiler Mar 19, 2025 Comments Off

Articles

PFAS litigation: A deep dive into the rise of consumer-led claims and its implications

By: Amanda Beattie, Zoe Jones and Nick Salagaras At a glance In December 2024, a consumer-led PFAS class action was filed against 3M Australia Pty Ltd in the Supreme Court of Victoria. Despite significant US litigation, this marks the first class action against 3M in Australia related to PFAS contamination and the first consumer-led PFAS […]

By : Joshua Weiler Mar 12, 2025 Comments Off

Articles, Case Alerts

Davis v Wilson: The bar for successful shareholder class actions gets higher and higher

By: Amanda Beattie and Zoe Jones At a glance Following its decisions in other shareholder class actions late 2023 and 2024, the Federal Court has handed down yet another unfavourable decision for shareholders (Davis v Wilson [2025] FCA 108). The claim alleged that Quintis’ CEO, Frank Wilson, and its auditor, Ernst & Young, engaged in […]

By : Joshua Weiler Feb 26, 2025 Comments Off

Articles, Case Alerts

Successful ‘declassing’ application in Waller Legal class action: Implications for institutional defendants?

By: Amanda Beattie, Zoe Jones and Nick Salagaras At a glance The Supreme Court of Victoria has granted an application made by a defendant (Waller Legal) for a claim to no longer proceed as a group proceeding. The claim made by the lead plaintiff, Jane Jones (a pseudonym) alleged that Waller Legal breached its duty […]

By : Joshua Weiler Feb 20, 2025 Comments Off

Thought Leadership

Class Actions 2024 Wrapped: A year in review & our predictions for 2025

2024 was another eventful year in the class actions space. There were some important decisions, notable settlements and a reduction in the number of shareholder class actions, which has traditionally been quite dominant. We have also seen a growing trend of class actions which focus on consumer protection, data breaches following cyber security incidents and […]

By : Joshua Weiler Feb 6, 2025 Comments Off

Thought Leadership, Video

Trend Watch: What’s next? – data breach class actions

Following the Optus and Medibank data breaches in 2021-2022, the increase in litigation has triggered a range of new considerations and developments in the space. In our latest Trend Watch video on data breaches, Cyber, Privacy + Technology partner Nicole Gabryk and Commercial Litigation special counsel Gavin Davies discuss the increasing activity of regulators, litigants […]

By : Joshua Weiler Oct 31, 2024 Comments Off

Thought Leadership, Video

Trend Watch: Privilege during investigations – data breach class actions

With litigation escalating across data breaches and privacy class actions, there are new questions around legal privilege when obtaining forensic reports. As part of our Trend Watch video series, Cyber, Privacy + Technology partner Nicole Gabryk and Commercial Litigation special counsel Gavin Davies discuss privilege claims arising from the Optus and Medibank data breaches in 2021-2022, […]

By : Joshua Weiler Oct 29, 2024 Comments Off

Thought Leadership, Video

Trend Watch: Employment law class actions – what do employers need to know?

Employment law class actions have been on the rise in the last few years, particularly around underpayment and the failure to provide entitlements. In the fourth instalment of our Trend Watch video series, Head of Class Actions Amanda Beattie and Workplace + Safety partner Laura Gavan discuss growing trends for employers, impacts of new ‘Closing […]

By : Joshua Weiler Oct 24, 2024 Comments Off

Thought Leadership, Video

Trend Watch: What’s next for shareholder class actions?

2024 has been an interesting year for the class action space, particularly with fewer cases and a more cautious approach taken by both funders and plaintiffs. In the third instalment of our Trend Watch video series, Head of Class Actions Amanda Beattie and Head of Financial Lines Andrew Moore discuss emerging trends in shareholder class […]

By : Joshua Weiler Oct 21, 2024 Comments Off

Articles

Parental leave – an outline of entitlements and obligations

By: Sian Gilbert, Grace Gunn, Dexter Cabal and Ellie Jongma At a glance Employees entitled to parental leave under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) may take up to 110 days of their 12-month unpaid leave entitlement in a flexible manner in the 24 months following the birth (or adoption) of their child […]

By : Joshua Weiler Oct 15, 2024 Comments Off

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