Almost three-quarters of Australians believe class action lawsuits are a good thing, either because they provide compensation for people ripped off by corporate misconduct or because they keep companies honest, polling shows.
The polling, conducted for class action law firm Maurice Blackburn by Essential last week, also reveals that despite heavy campaigning by the business lobby and sections of the media, a similar proportion of Australians believe laws governing whether class actions can be launched should either be loosened or are about right.
The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has launched two salvos against class actions in the past fortnight by announcing litigation funders are to require a licence and using emergency coronavirus powers to water down rules governing what companies have to tell the stock market.
Litigation funding and class actions are also to be probed by a parliamentary committee chaired by the Victorian Liberal senator James Paterson.
Business groups have also raised concerns about moves in Victoria to allow law firms to charge contingency fees if they win, a move that would let them bypass litigation funders and instead take the risk of running class action lawsuits on to their own balance sheets.
According to Essential, 42% of people agreed that class actions were “good for the economy because they keep big business and government honest and accountable” and another 30% said they were good for “shareholders and workers because they get compensated when someone does the wrong thing”.
Just 11% agreed that they were “bad for the economy overall because they make life too hard for businesses and governments that do the right thing” while 17% agreed that “class actions are unfair because lawyers make too much money when they win a case”.
Asked whether laws governing class actions should be tightened or loosened, 36% said it should be made easier to launch them, 43% said the current laws were about right and 20% said it should be made harder to sue a company or government as part of a class action.
Attacks on class actions also appear to have little purchase with Coalition voters, with 67% of Liberal or National voters saying they were a good thing.
Victorian legislation allowing law firms to charge contingency fees is currently before the state’s upper house, where it will be supported by crucial crossbencher Rod Barton, of the Transport Matters Party.
Barton, a former hire car driver, is himself a member of a class action Maurice Blackburn is running against Uber that has been bankrolled by a litigation funder.
“If it gets through and we were bringing our class action now, those 7,000 registrants would be better off,” he told an Australia at Home online forum on Wednesday.
He said he expected the litigation funder would take between 25% and 30% of any winnings, while Maurice Blackburn’s costs would eat up another 10%.
“If we were in the new system, if it gets up, if Maurice Blackburn had a fair contingency fee of 25%, 75% would go to those registrants, those people who have been wronged,” he said.
Guardian Australia, Essential and Maurice Blackburn are sponsors of Australia at Home
