Class action settlements in Australia the need for greater scrutiny
Class actions in Australia are frequently resolved through a court approved settlement. Yet settlement is fraught with difficulties due to the representative nature of the class action which sees group members who are not before the court bound by the settlement. Consequently the legislature and the courts have taken steps to protect group members. This article explains and critiques those protections before suggesting reforms to ensure that class action settlements are subject to greater scrutiny. In particular, the article focuses on court appointed costs experts to assess legal fees, an independent guardian to represent group members' interests, less use of suppression orders in relation to the details of the settlement and ensuring settlement approvals are set out in publicly available judgments.