The shareholder leading a class action against failed fund manager Blue Sky Alternative Investments has lost a bid for a split trial it accepted was novel, despite arguing the usual course for trials in securities cases was “misconceived”.
Phoslock Environmental Technologies, which has produced hundreds of thousands of documents to federal police as part of an investigation of the company’s China operations, must hand over the bundle to a class action.
Online trader Plus500 is seeking to stay a class action on behalf of investors who lost money trading in highly leveraged financial products, telling a court the applicant signed an agreement forcing the dispute into arbitration.
The corporate regulator should not be immune from the risk of special costs for actions doomed to fail, says a judge who flayed ASIC last month for bringing a case against TerraCom directors it should have known was a dud.
The High Court has unanimously found the Federal Court has no power to allow solicitors to take a cut of a settlement or judgment in a shareholder class action against Blue Sky, saying it would be contrary to rules against contingency fees in NSW.
A judge has slammed a Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer partner’s submission that it is not good practice to subpoena witnesses in complex litigation — saying this was “news to [her]” — and rejected client AMP’s bid to have a key witness testify from an Airbnb.
A judge has expressed worries that a class action against EY and collapsed Blue Sky Alternative Investments is “drifting” amid concerns from the defendants about “indulgent” discovery and potentially “significant” pleading changes.
Auditor KPMG has hit back at a shareholder class action over water treatment business Phoslock’s alleged accounting irregularities, saying it should be completely relieved from paying damages since it acted honestly.
A judge has said ASIC should have known that its case against four TerraCom directors over statements made to investors had no prospects of success, calling one of its submissions “unworthy of the corporations regulator”.
One of two law firms running competing class actions against Coles and Woolworths over alleged illusory discounts has bowed out, leaving its rival to pursue the cases for consumers.