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Deloitte has won its bid to keep confidential documents away from the funder backing a consolidated shareholder class against food company Noumi which alleges the auditor was complicit in misleading the market.
A fight over a global privilege claim by Noumi has been foreshadowed in a consolidated shareholder class action against the food company, formerly Freedom Foods.
A judge overseeing two franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven that settled for $98 million has been urged to cut the payout to the law firm running the cases because it had a “troubling” practice of deferring its fees.
No evidence was produced of a deferred fee arrangement between the law firm and funder backing franchise class actions against 7-Eleven, and the "unequivocal" denial by the solicitor running the cases should be accepted, a court has heard.
Deloitte and Noumi, formerly known as Freedom Foods, have pointed the finger at one another in a consolidated shareholder class action, with the accounting giant saying the food company made misleading representations in its financial reports and should be on the hook for its costs in defending the lawsuit.
The contradictor appointed to represent group members in an application for approval of a $98 million settlement of two franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven has raised "grave concerns" about criticism by the senior partner of the law firm running the proceedings.
Nando's Australia has been criticised for claiming that its costs in a dispute against a single franchisee could reach close to $2 million, with an associate judge saying the bill could kickstart a precedent that leads to "the end of litigation as we know it".
A judge has rejected an application by the plaintiffs in two class actions against Freedom Foods and Deloitte to run their cases side-by-side, but said she would have granted a bid to consolidate the proceedings had that been sought.
Recent changes to the law requiring funded class actions to be registered as managed investment schemes have complicated the question of how best to resolve the multiplicity issue in two class actions brought against Freedom Foods and Deloitte.
The High Court has declined to hear a case that challenges the power of judges to make common fund orders at the close of litigation, a challenge the Federal Court had labelled "hypothetical".