BHP Billiton is facing the possibility of a second shareholder class action over the Fundao dam failure at its mine in Brazil, but the cases may be put on hold pending the outcome of homicide charges against company employees.
The country’s biggest law firms were among the first in line to weigh in on changes to the class action regime proposed by the Australian Law Reform Commission, with one global firm cautioning against a weakening of continuous disclosure laws.
Law firm Squire Patton Boggs is again on the losing end of a ruling by the judge presiding over a shareholder class action against GetSwift, a case now better known for infighting among lawyers than for the allegations levelled against the tech startup.
Lawyers for two competing class actions against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia over breaches of anti-money laundering laws say the cases can happily co-exist, but whether the court will agree may well depend on the outcome of a closely-watched appeal in a separate battle over multiple proceedings.
A judge on Friday will hear arguments in a bid by BHP Billiton to halt a class action over the mining giant’s Brazilian mine disaster, a sweeping case filed on behalf of investors who held the company’s shares in Australia, the UK or South Africa.
The naming of Squire Patton Boggs as a concurrent wrongdoer in GetSwift’s defence puts the law firm in an “impossible position of conflict of interest” if it wins a challenge to an order staying its class action against the company, the Full Federal Court has been told ahead of a highly anticipated appeal hearing that promises to pull no punches.
Shareholders in a class action against Deloitte over the collapse of engineering company Hastie Group have won a major ruling against partners at the auditing firm who resisted handing over evidence to the class for fear of incriminating others at the accounting giant.
The litigation funder underwriting a shareholder class action against BHP Billiton over the company’s Brazilian mine disaster is a corporation created by two major US plaintiffs’ firms with the sole purpose of backing the Australian case.
Applicants in four Federal Court class actions against AMP won’t voluntarily move their cases to the NSW Supreme Court on the invitation of a state judge, leaving a jurisdictional battle to rage on.
Lawyers in the turf war over five competing AMP class actions have agreed to a temporary peace accord after the battleground edged close to the realm of the absurd, with a threatened anti-anti suit injunction being met with calls for an anti-anti-anti suit injunction.