An Empirical Study of Australia's Class Action Regimes, Fourth Report: Facts and Figures on Twenty-Four Years of Class Actions in Australia

Abstract

This report provides data with respect to the first 24 years of class actions in Australia; that is, the period from 4 March 1992 to 3 March 2016 (“review period”). It reveals the total and average number of class actions filed in the Federal Court, the Supreme Court of Victoria and the Supreme Court of New South Wales; the total and average number of legal disputes that have been the subject of these class actions; and the total number of competing class actions.

In addition, this report provides the following data with respect to class actions filed in the Federal Court pursuant to Part IVA of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) (“Part IVA”): the total, average and median number of class actions; the average and median duration of those proceedings that have been resolved as at 30 June 2016 and the average duration of the most popular types of class actions; the types of substantive claims that have been advanced on behalf of the class members; the number of class actions that have been supported by commercial litigation funders, the types of substantive claims that these entities have preferred and the settlement rates that they have secured; the most important law firms that have represented class representatives and the percentage of class actions that they have settled; the outcomes of class actions; and the registries of the Federal Court in which they have been filed.