King & Wood Mallesons’ annual report, ‘The Review: Class Actions in Australia 2023/2024’ reveals class actions declining in number and shifting in nature – away from securities actions and towards consumer and regulatory claims.
The report analyses judgments, events and developments across class actions between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024, finding fewer class actions as well as greater concentration of new actions in the Federal and Victorian Supreme Courts.
Highlights include:
- A continued decline in new class actions with 44 new filings, marking the lowest number of class actions filed in total since 2016/2017.
- Consumer, financial product and employment class actions claims headline new filings.
- The Federal Court dismissed 3 securities class actions in just under 6 months. To put this in context, there have only been 2 securities class actions that proceeded to trial before this year, and more than 50 had settled out of court.
- The Federal Court and the Victorian Supreme Court were the only jurisdictions with new actions filed in the review period.
- At least 20 class action settlements were approved in 2023/2024, representing over $600M in settlement funds.
Notably, the period has seen the High Court demonstrate a willingness to hear applications involving vexed questions of class action practice and procedure – a development expected to reshape how and where class action funders and plaintiff lawyers file cases.
Commenting on the report, Partner, Moira Saville said:
“There have been significant developments both in substantive law and in class action procedure over the last year. The Courts have given particular attention to the question of how to establish, and measure, loss. In terms of class action procedure, the case law on soft class closure continues to develop.”
Also commenting on the report, Partner, Peta Stevenson said:
“This year’s report reveals that consumer class actions remain the leading category for class actions in Australia for the fifth year in a row. The cases filed suggest a tendency for this category of class actions to follow on from regulator action and overseas proceedings.”
Looking to jurisdiction preferences, the Federal Court and the Victorian Supreme Court were the only jurisdictions with new actions filed, with 31 filed in the Federal Court and 13 in the Victorian Supreme Court. Notably, no actions were filed in the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
Further commenting on the report, Partner, Eleanor Atkins said:
“The apparent preference to file either in the Federal Court or the Victorian Supreme Court may be driven by the availability of funding models in those jurisdictions. The Federal Court recently confirmed the availability of a ‘Solicitors’ Common Fund Order’, which operates in a similar fashion to the group costs orders permitted under the Victorian regime.”
The report, ‘The Review: Class Actions in Australia 2023/2024’ is KWM’s 12th consecutive report. You can access a copy of the report here.
