The judge in a class action against KPMG and ex-Arrium directors has made soft class closure orders, but chosen the longer period offered by the defendants, saying the risk of locking out unregistered members was no reason to pick an “unrealistically early” date to re-open the class.
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”.
ASIC has told a court that a PwC report into allegations of inaccurate coal pricing found that 12 “inconsistent” invoices issued by TerraCom resulted in a $1.15 million benefit to the company, contrary to the company’s claim that the audit found no wrongdoing.
Penalty proceedings in ASIC’s case against coal producer TerraCom have been put on ice until the regulator’s suit against the company’s directors goes to trial.
Coal producer TerraCom has agreed to pay $7.5 million to resolve ASIC proceedings alleging it made misleading statement to the market that damaged a whistleblower’s reputation.
A group costs order giving class action solicitors a percentage cut of the proceeds of a case is a factor in weighing whether proceedings should be transferred from Victoria to a state in which such an order could not operate, the High Court has ruled.
Are group costs orders a factor in deciding a bid to transfer a class action? Can the orders survive the move to an inhospitable state? These questions are to be decided by the High Court Wednesday, in a ruling that will clarify the relevance and reach of Victoria’s contingency fee regime.
Four directors of coal producer TerraCom have flagged they will not show their hand in the corporate regulator’s first-ever case alleging breaches of whistleblower protections.
In submissions to the High Court, the applicant in a class action brought on behalf of Arrium shareholders against KMPG has attacked the Attorney-General’s argument that a contingency fee order is a neutral factor in assessing the accounting firm’s bid to move the case from Victoria.
The NSW Supreme Court would have the power to deal with a contingency fee order made in a class action against KPMG if the accounting firm won its application to move the case from Victoria, making the existence of the order a neutral factor in the transfer bid, the federal Attorney-General has told the High Court.