Boutique class actions law firm Phi Finney McDonald has won its bid to reserve costs incurred before its case was permanently stayed in the AMP shareholder class action beauty contest, after the firm racked up at least 1,345 hours in “sunk costs”.
Law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has followed through on its threat to appeal a high stakes ruling that shut down its shareholder class action against AMP, along with two competing cases, after a two-day beauty parade that saw rival firm Maurice Blackburn take the prize.
A class action against the NSW government over a contractor who sold the personal details of 130 ambulance workers to personal injury law firms has flagged it may subpoena the founder and principal of Bannister Law, which purchased the confidential information.
Law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has told the court it will appeal a judgment permanently staying its shareholder class action against AMP over the wealth manager’s fees for no service scandal.
A judge’s decision to pick Maurice Blackburn’s no win, no fee class action against AMP over three funded class actions puts the pressure on litigation funders, which will now face more competition from law firms prepared to go it alone, experts say. The ruling also shows the value courts place on funding arrangements that seek to maximise returns for class members, which means class action beauty parades are sure to get less ugly.
Maurice Blackburn’s shareholder class action against AMP — the only action not backed by a litigation funder — has been picked as the winner in a fierce battle of law firms vying to lead a high stakes case over the wealth manager’s fees for no service scandal.
A ruling by a judge deciding a four-way contest to run a shareholder class action against AMP is expected this week, a judgment significant not just because it is the first time a court in Australia has been asked to choose among so many competing representative cases.
A judge who entertained an anti-suit injunction in the AMP class action jurisdictional battle that set off what another judge called an “unseemly debacle” has ordered the applicant behind the injunction bid to pay costs.
Two rulings Friday keeping alive the common fund order are a ringing endorsement by the courts of the important role that litigation funders play in class actions, experts say, and have paved the way for more funded post-Hayne consumer litigation against banks and other financial services firms this year.
Common fund orders in class actions are legal and not unconstitutional, six judges found Friday after a history-making joint sitting of two appeals courts.