Accounting giant Deloitte is digging in for a fight over a court order to produce documents to a shareholder class over the firm’s auditing of collapsed engineering company Hastie Group, saying partners forced to hand over the files don’t have access to them.
Supermarket giant Woolworths has been hit with a class action on behalf of investors who allegedly suffered losses when the company revised its sales and profit guidance and revealed it had been using the wrong pricing competitiveness and stock availability metrics.
An Australian mortgage investment manager has been hit with a class action, alleging it charged excessive fees on loans and made misleading representations to borrowers.
The $92 million payout to two funders that financed the recently settled S&P Global class actions shows the need for continued scrutiny of litigation funding agreements, experts say, but whether it is a sign of windfalls to come or is a ghost of commission’s past is another question.
A court has struck out defamation claims brought by embattled Quintis founder Frank Wilson against the company’s former directors over ASX statements he alleges suggested he knew about the company’s termination of a supply contract with Nestle’s dermatology unit, Galderma Laboratories.
The litigation funder that unsuccessfully sought to block a shareholder from opposing a $64 million class action settlement over the collapse of Banksia Securities is not on the hook for indemnity costs despite bringing the injunction with an ulterior motive.
A judge has struck out part of a class action against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia that alleges it kept investors in the dark about deficiencies in its systems for monitoring money laundering and terrorism financing risks, saying it wasn’t clear what the bank was expected to disclose.
A year after the Federal Court issued its important ruling on competing class actions and foreshadowed orders prohibiting duplicative legal fees, the company at the centre of the proceedings — organic baby food maker Bellamy’s — has called on the court to make good on its promise about costs.
A subsidiary of car leasing company McMillan Shakespeare faces a class action over vehicle warranties that gave the company “complete and unfettered” discretion to reject claims by customers.
Plaintiffs law firm Slater & Gordon is considering a class action against gynaecologist Dr. Emil Gayed, who was found guilty of professional misconduct after patients complained of undergoing unnecessary surgery and not giving informed consent to procedures.