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ARTICLE · 15 SEPTEMBER 2014

Australian product liability trends: Class actions & litigation funding

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Australia may see more liberalisation of litigation funding regulation, with an increase in product liability litigation.

AustraliaConsumer Protection
Annette Hughes
Annette Hughes
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A lively class action market

The Australian Federal class action regime is one of the world's most liberal and plaintiff friendly. As a consequence of this, and our active litigation funding market, Australia is second only to the United States in respect of class action activity.

A recent study revealed that over the past 17 years, 22.4% of all Australian class actions have been product liability related. 1 This trend is set to continue with the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) fortifying existing consumer protection laws and giving rise to a broader array of possible avenues for class action litigation. The ACL is still relatively new, coming up to its second birthday. Relevantly, the ACL has placed more onerous obligations on manufacturers and suppliers with the introduction of mandatory reporting of product associated injury or illness, a broader test for bans and recalls and increased prescribed requirements for warranties against defects.

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