A judge has consolidated competing shareholder class actions against builder Lendlease brought by rival plaintiffs law firms, but has rejected the firms’ bid to jointly run the litigation and says one of them must go.
Two special purpose liquidators appointed to collapsed engineering and construction company Forge Group are investigating a potential lawsuit against KPMG, which audited the doomed business prior to its $800 million collapse in 2014.
A Federal Court judge has expressed concerns about whether group members in three class actions against the Commonwealth over allegedly toxic firefighting foam will be blocked from pursuing personal injury claims related to the chemical.
Federal Court Justice Michael Lee is set to go out in the field on a nationwide tour to personally inspect the military bases and surrounding properties at the heart of three class actions against the Commonwealth of Australia over land contamination from allegedly toxic firefighting foam.
Counsel for a class action against Arnold Bloch Leibler alleging negligence over advice to Slater & Gordon has criticised the law firm’s barrister for seeking more time to file a possible dismissal application because he was “only briefed yesterday”, saying the excuse had become an all too frequent one.
An elite Melbourne law firm has become the latest target of Slater & Gordon shareholders whose stock went south after the plaintiffs firm’s disastrous $1.2 billion acquisition of UK professional services outfit Quindell, facing a class action alleging it was negligent in its role conducting due diligence for the deal.
The plaintiffs firms running rival shareholder class actions against construction giant Lendlease have pitched a proposal to join their competing cases, a plan that should find favour with the judge overseeing the cases, who recently forced the consolidation of three duplicate class actions against failed engineering firm RCR Tomlinson.
The plaintiffs in one of two shareholder class actions brought against troubled sandalwood producer Quintis have complained about potential delays that could result from the “overly complicated loss theory” being advanced in a parallel class action.
Aged care provider Estia Health has launched a bid to strike out the pleadings in a Phi Finney McDonald-led shareholder class action, accusing the law firm of making “speculative allegations” in the hope of strengthening its case later on.
A judge has consolidated two concurrent cases against the former directors and auditors of collapsed construction company Forge Group, after warning the overlapping actions needed to be carefully managed to avoid it becoming an “unrideable bull”.