Many times, it is easier to bring ‘class action’ or ‘representative’ proceedings if there are many claimants (usually seven or more applicants), typically against one large corporate defendant.

These kinds of actions can make things simpler in various ways, by:

But these proceedings can also be quite complex at the same time in various ways, mainly because of the strict procedural steps needed to ensure that they are properly conducted, in turn because the Court (usually the Federal Court of Australia) takes care to have a ‘good grip on the proceedings’, and to supervise these much more stringently.

Some of these stringent requirements are set out in practice documents of the Court, for example within the ‘Class Actions Practice Note (GPN-CA)’.

For example, the Court is to approve any litigation funding and has a supervisor role for example, when it comes to legal costs, fees, disbursements and expenses.

There are other strict requirements, forms and processes which need to be followed to ensure that the proceedings are accepted and are not struck out.

The pleaded claim needs to ensure that the complaint/claim is common as between all the claimants and that there is a proper cause of action against at least one defendant.

All the relevant claims must be properly pleaded on that claim document and, again, importantly, these need to be common as between all the claimants.

If some pleadings are improper or incorrect in any substantial way, they could endanger the whole claim, so careful analysis of the pleaded claim is needed.

The Court also requires that the claimants must ensure that the claim is ready to proceed without delay once the originating process (the commencement form) is filed in the Court registry. That means that these types of claims need to be ‘front-loaded’ and be ready to be brought quickly and efficiently, from the outset.

If there is to be more than one defendant, then careful consideration needs to be given to the casting of the claim so that it captures all the claimants and the collective defendants together (at times, the defendants are related to one another, or they are ‘related body corporates’ and, as directed by the Court, one ‘head defendant’ carries the burden for the other defendant/s to ensure that the matters is conducted as ‘justly, cheaply and quickly’ as possible).

Importantly, different costs agreements and costs disclosure regimes may apply depending on the number of claimants, defendants, causes of action etc.

For example, it is possible that the representative claimant can represent the rest of the claimants in relation to a unitary costs’ agreement.

As you can gather, all these steps need proper assessment and careful analysis.

At Papallo Kouchoo our lawyers have the requisite class action experience in the Federal Court, to make the process as easy as possible for you and your co-claimants.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us for an obligation free professional consultation.