Fighting For Fees Not Fighting For Fair
Western Victoria MP Bev McArthur spoke in strong opposition to the Labor Government’s Justice Legislation Miscellaneous Amendments Bill 2019, which will allow law firms to charge contingency fees in class action lawsuits.
Mrs McArthur labelled the bill “a shameful disgrace [that] shows exactly who pulls the strings of the Andrews Government.”
Maurice Blackburn, the largest non-union donor to the Victorian Labor Party having donated $122,887 last year, allegedly lobbied the crossbench to support the bill.
Maurice Blackburn are the largest filer of class action lawsuits in Australia.
In their submission to the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s 2018 review into litigation funding and group proceedings, Maurice Blackburn recommended “a cap of 30% or 35%” on contingency fees.
If Maurice Blackburn charged a 35% contingency fee in their class action lawsuit on behalf of Black Saturday bushfire victims, it is estimated that they would have taken an additional $170 million of the settlement.
Mrs McArthur said that while “class actions have a noble aim of which I support wholeheartedly,” “they are no longer a vehicle for justice, but instead a vehicle for profits.”
“This bill flies in the face of the fundamental obligation of a lawyer to place the interests of their client above their own and belittles their fiduciary obligations.”
“This bill is anti-victim, anti-plaintiff, anti-justice and anti-business.”
Mrs McArthur said that the bill “reduces the damages going to victims most wronged in our community” and does “not improve access to justice, but access to fees.”
“If the past weeks’ events have shown us anything, it is that this Labor Government is entirely beholden to ‘faceless men’ and backroom deals.”
Mrs McArthur implored the crossbench to “not be complicit in enabling more dodgy backroom deals to the benefit of more ‘faceless men’, by voting down this legislation."
18 June 2020