Class Actions in Australia 3rd Edition - eBook

This highly practical book offers complete coverage of class action law in Australia, from commencement through to choice of forum, opting-out, conduct, trial, settlement, costs and funding.

Now in its Third Edition, this landmark title was among the earliest analyses of class actions when first published in 2005.  It is now fully updated to reflect both the maturity of class actions law and its continuing evolution and includes a new chapter on insurers responding to class action risk.

New developments include:

• The latest empirical information on Australia’s class actions regimes.
• Litigation funding and its continuing growth, including:
  • court scrutiny of arrangements, particularly claimed commissions;
  • evolution of “common fund orders” from the decision in Money Max (2016) to the decision in Brewster (2019), and subsequent developments;
  • legislative changes by the Corporations Amendment (Litigation Funding) Regulations 2020 (Cth) and the introduction of contingency fees in Victoria from 1 July 2020.
• Growth of shareholder class actions, including the implications of the Myer (2019) and Worley (2020) decisions for listed companies’ disclosure obligations, misleading and deceptive conduct, market-based causation and the analysis and proof of loss.
• The courts’ approach to competing class actions and their role in managing multiplicity, including the decisions in GetSwift (2018) and AMP (2021).   
• Continuing law reform activity, including:
  • 2018 VLRC report Access to Justice - Litigation Funding and Group Proceedings 2018,
  • 2018 ALRC report Integrity, Fairness and Efficiency – An Inquiry into Class Action Proceedings and Third-Party Litigation Funders, and
  • Commonwealth Parliament’s Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services’ 2020 inquiry, Litigation funding and the regulation of the class action industry.
• The courts’ approach when considering settlement approval, including scrutiny of legal fees, litigation funding commissions and the merits of proposed settlements.
• Consideration by several courts, including the Federal Court and the NSW Court of Appeal, of their power and discretion to order “class closure”, and the impact on approaches to settlement of class actions.
• Analysis of insurance issues, including the availability of coverage, the role of insurers and insurance in proceedings, and market developments in this area.

Damian Grave, Ken Adams and Jason Betts apply their vast commercial litigation experience to the task.

Elegantly and clearly written, Class Actions in Australia Third Edition is an essential guide for any legal practitioner involved with, or interested in, class action litigation.

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1.           Overview of class actions in Australia

2.           Commonwealth and State legislation for representative proceedings

3.           Jurisdiction and choice of forum

4.           Threshold requirements for commencement of a representative proceeding

5.           The role of a representative party

6.           Status of group members in a representative proceeding

7.           Pleadings in representative proceedings

8.           Case management of representative proceedings

9.           Opting out and notice to group members

10.         Competing representation, multiple claims and consolidation

11.         Security for costs

12.         Insurance

13.         Discovery and other means of obtaining evidence and other information

14.         Conduct of representative proceedings

15.         Trial of representative proceedings

16.         Conclusion of representative proceedings and appeals

17.         Class closure

18.         Settlement of representative proceedings

19.         Court approval and settlement administration

20.         Costs and fee agreements

21.         Third party funding of representative proceedings

22.         Suspension of limitation periods: section 33ZE

23.         Shareholder class actions

Appendices

1.           Federal Court of Australia Materials

• Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth), Part IVA
• Federal Court Rules 2011, Part 9 Division 9.3
• Federal Court Class Actions Practice Note GPN-CA (20 December 2019)

2.           Supreme Court of Victoria Materials

• Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic), Part 4A
• Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2015 (Vic), Order 18A
• Supreme Court Practice Note SC Gen 10- Conduct of Group Proceedings (13 October 2020)

3.           Supreme Court of New South Wales Materials

• Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), Part 10
• Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), Part 58
• Supreme Court Practice Note SC Gen 17- Representative Proceedings (31 July 2017)

4.           Supreme Court of Queensland Materials

• Civil Proceedings Act 2011 (Qld), Part 13A
• Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (QLD), Division 5
• Supreme Court of Queensland Practice Direction Number 2 of 2017 – Representative Proceedings (27 February 2017)

5.           Supreme Court of Tasmania Materials

• Supreme Court Civil Procedure Act 1932 (Tas), Part VII
• Supreme Court Rules 2000 (Tas), Division 5
• Supreme Court of Tasmania Practice Direction No. 2 of 2019 – Representative Proceedings (6 September 2019)

6.           Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (US), rule 23

7.           Rules of Court for Representative Proceedings

8.           Pleading the requirements of section 33H

9.           Notices approved by courts informing group members of commencement of representative

  proceeding and of their right to opt out

10.         Notices approved by courts to identify group members able to maintain a claim in the

  proceeding and to inform group members of the proposed settlement and of their right to object

11.         Schedule of class action settlement court approvals

12.         Insurance policy references

13.         The initial risk analysis

14.         Due diligence process

15.         Omni Bridgeway’s Australian Financial Services Licence