Federal Court Justice Michael Lee (pictured) has delivered a blistering rebuke to prominent class action firm Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, refusing to grant a last-minute extension to distribute a $120 million compensation package to illegally sacked Qantas workers.
The payout stems from a landmark 2024 agreement following a grueling four-year legal battle between the airline and the Transport Workers Union (TWU). But instead of swift resolution, the execution has hit a wall, with Justice Lee warning the law firm it must now wear the consequences of failing court orders.
Slapping down the firm’s “minute to midnight” application, Justice Lee made it clear that judicial deadlines aren’t suggestion boxes:
“Applications affecting the rights and expectations of more than 1,800 people ought to be brought openly. Court orders are not like the traffic lights in Palermo. They are not there merely to be observed when it is thought convenient to do so.”
Forced Into Breach
Maurice Blackburn was ordered to submit a finalized payment schedule by July 31 so the court could begin distributing the $120 million fund alongside a share of a $40 million court penalty.
Instead, the firm raised the alarm just eight days prior, citing complex individual calculations, medical reports, and tax administration hurdles with Services Australia.
Maurice Blackburn Lawyers was meant to provide a schedule of payments made in the $120 million payout to the court by Friday, so the rest of the money could be apportioned to workers.
Justice Lee told the court Maurice Blackburn Lawyers must have known much earlier that it was going to miss his court-ordered deadline.
“I confess to being disturbed that almost six years after the outsourcing decision, the court is now being asked … to abandon a timetable which it had every reason to believe was realistic when it was fixed only seven months ago,” he said.
When counsel for the law firm pressed for a hearing before the deadline passed, Justice Lee refused to be rushed, deferring the matter to August 6—deliberately allowing the firm to fall into breach.
“Yes, and you’ll be in breach of [the deadline], and we’ll see what consequences flow from that,” Justice Lee said, addint that he had “no confidence” in the current process.
