Empirical Perspectives on Twenty-One Years of Funded Class Actions in Australia

Abstract

December 2001 saw the world’s first instance of funding by a commercial litigation funder of class action litigation, when a subsidiary of IMF Bentham Ltd (now Omni Bridgeway Ltd) agreed to provide financial support with respect to two class actions filed in the Federal Court of Australia in 1998 and 2000, with respect to the so-called waterfront industrial dispute. The principal purpose of this report is to provide extensive empirical data with respect to this involvement of funders during the last 21 years, so as to facilitate an informed and objective analysis of the impact that litigation funders have had on Australian class actions.

Keywords: class actions, settlements, litigation funders, funding commission fees, common fund orders