An appeals court has questioned General Motors’ construction of its settlement with the applicant in a class action on behalf of Holden dealers, as the car maker seeks to overturn a ruling that put it on the hook for the applicant’s full costs.
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.
Supporting KPMG’s bid to move a class action over the collapse of Arrium from Melboure to Sydney, former directors of the failed steel company have told the High Court the Victoria Supreme Court was impermissibly preferring the policy of its state in finding a contingency fee order made in the case could be factored into a transfer application.
The funder of a class action by financial advisers against AMP is seeking a $28.5 million profit from a $100 million settlement, a hefty payout that has prompted the appointment of a contradictor but may survive the scrutiny in light of a recent appeals court decision.
The Full High Court will sit for the hearing of KPMG’s battle to transfer a Victoria class action to Sydney, as the applicant in the case raises a question as to the constitutional validity of the firm’s argument that the NSW Supreme Court is bound to keep a group costs order operative.
AMP has lost its bid for soft class closure in a class action over allegedly excessive superannuation fees, with a judge finding the court should exercise “real caution” when class closure is opposed by the applicant.
A judge has appointed a contradictor for an upcoming settlement approval hearing in a class action by financial advisers against AMP over its buyer of last resort policy, saying the funder was taking a “very large” cut of the $100 million settlement.
A judge has refused to redact a judgment signing off on the discontinuance of several product claims in a class action against three AMP subsidiaries after the applicant failed to gather the required evidence, saying it was not enough that the reasons “may be an embarrassment to people who commenced the proceeding”.
KPMG has won its application for the High Court to weigh in on the relevance of a contingency fee order in determining a bid to transfer a shareholder class action from Victoria to NSW.
The applicant in a class action against four AMP subsidiaries and two trustees over alleged excessive superannuation fees has flagged its opposition to soft class closure, saying it would be “completely inappropriate” to require the large class of up to two million group members to register ahead of mediation.