The impact and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are still unfolding across the globe, and its disruption of key industries may result in a follow-on surge in class action cases. Whilst most businesses fought to stay profitable or even afloat, the financial support offered by many governments around the world also helped support businesses that had fundamental flaws or failings pre-pandemic.
An LFJ Conversation with Michael Kelley, Partner, Parker Poe
The impact and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are still unfolding across the globe, and its disruption of key industries may result in a follow-on surge in class action cases. Whilst most businesses fought to stay profitable or even afloat, the financial support offered by many governments around the world also helped support businesses that had fundamental flaws or failings pre-pandemic.
Interviewed by The Australian Financial Review, the executive chairman of CASL, John Walker, predicts an influx in class actions now that businesses will once again come under tight scrutiny of their activities. This prediction comes with the added weight of CASL building a sizable war chest of $155 million to fund such litigation, with Mr Walker highlighting the area of ESG as a potential firestorm of future claims.
Mr Walker also linked the expected rise in claims to the potential for even greater levels of third-party funding due to the continuing increase in inflation, and with investors looking for safer bets than equity investments. Despite regulatory tightening on the funding industry by the previous Australian government, he also expects the new administration to make gradual, if not immediate, changes that will widen access and opportunity for claimants seeking external funding.
