Multi-Plaintiff Litigation in Australia: A Comparative Perspective

Class actions-properly called representative or group proceedings-are a comparatively recent phenomenon in Australia.During the past two or three years, there has been an enormous increase in the number of class actions brought in Australia, even though the first proper class action procedure was introduced in 1992.Indeed, Australia is the most likely place outside North America for a plaintiff to bring a class action suit.Surprisingly, Australia has the highest lawyers per capita ratio in the world. 1 In some key practice areas, levels of litigation in Australia now exceed those in most parts of the United States.For example, only California exceeds Australian figures for medical negligence litigation. 2 In recent times, class actions have been commenced against a truly diverse range of defendants.Product liability claims have been common.Examples include claims involving Fen-Phen, heart pacemakers, tobacco, aircraft fuel, and a variety of foodstuffs ranging fromCopyright  2001 by S. Stuart Clark and Christina Harris.* S. Stuart Clark is a partner of Clayton Utz in Sydney, and the leader of that firm's product liability group with particular expertise in the defense of class actions and claims involving drugs and medical devices.** Christina Harris is a lawyer and member of Clayton Utz's product liability group.The Clayton Utz product liability group has been at the forefront of the development of Australia's class action and product liability laws.The group has successfully defended class actions involving a diverse range of products including tobacco, Fen-Phen, the Sydney water supply and agricultural pesticides.1. Australia has 35,000 lawyers out of a total population of 18.8 million people, equating to 537 persons per lawyer; the United States has 480,000 lawyers in a population of 262 million people, or 546 persons per lawyer.See Brave New World?, LAWYERS WEEKLY, June 23, 2000, at 18.2. See Greg J. Reinhardt, Comment, Compensation and Professional Indemnity in Health Care-The Final Report of the Tito Committee, 4 TORTS L.J. 173, 173 (1996).California has been reported as the most litigious of U.S. jurisdictions.See