In Abbott v Zoetis Australia Pty Ltd (No 2) [2019] FCA 462, a decision handed down last week by Lee J regarding an application for security for costs in a mass-tort class action being conducted on a "no win no fee" basis, his Honour gave an important endorsement to class actions being "self-funded"—that is, funded by the group members. Abbott relates to a vaccine used in horses to treat the Hendra virus. The applicant and group members are owners of horses which are alleged t

There was an interesting decision handed down by Garling J in the NSW Supreme Court last week in Fernandez & Anor v State of New South Wales & Ors [2019] NSWSC 255, saying that the plaintiff in a class action does not need to have a claim against all defendants. The case concerns a claim made against the State of NSW and various local health districts on behalf of people who have been made to guarantee a patient's debt where the patient was not eligible for Medicare benefits.

The Australian Law Reform Commission's Report 134, entitled "Integrity, Fairness and Efficiency—An Inquiry into Class Action Proceedings and Third-Party Litigation Funders", has finally been released publicly. As I have noted before, I was involved in authoring two submissions to the inquiry into the litigation funding and class action systems (on behalf of Levitt Robinson and NSW Young Lawyers), and I am happy to say that both submissions were extensively cited in the final

In Botsman v Bolitho [2018] VSCA 278, Tate, Whelan, and Niall JJA of the Supreme Court of Victoria Court of Appeal have substantially redefined the Court's powers under s 33V of the Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic) (which is equivalent to s 33V of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) or s 173 of the Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW)). The decision is notable for a number of reasons. First, it is arguably the second time in Australia that a class action settlement approval h

ASIC Opposes Proposed Role as Litigation Funding Regulator As many readers will know, the Australian Law Reform Commission ("ALRC") is currently conducting an inquiry into the federal class actions regime and the regulation of litigation funders, and have been accepting submissions in response to a Discussion Paper. I was a co-author of both the Levitt Robinson and the NSW Young Lawyers submissions. The Discussion Paper and the submissions canvassed a number of issues and I w