The High Court has been asked to overturn a NSW Court of Appeal decision finding it had no power to exclude unregistered group members from a settlement, which conflicted with Federal Court precedent, hearing the divergence of the important issue “can only be resolved by the High Court”.
A judge has expressed concerns about the plaintiff’s proposed group costs order rate in a shareholder class action against fleet management company FleetPartners, saying the purpose of the GCO regime was to lower costs to group members.
The score in shareholder class actions taken to trial now stands at a dismal 0-5 after a judge tossed class actions against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia on Friday. But don’t expect funders to throw in the towel until the High Court or an intermediate appellate authority has its say, experts told Lawyerly.
Two class actions have failed to convince a judge that the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s money laundering compliance failure which led to a $700 million penalty was “law breaking on a grand scale” that should have been disclosed to the market, the latest shareholder case to flop after being taken to trial.
Omni Bridgeway will book a smaller-than-expected loss from its investment in failed shareholder class actions against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia that it spent close to $10 million on, having curbed its exposure by selling a stake in the group proceedings.
Slater & Gordon has won the court’s nod to be separately represented at an upcoming settlement approval hearing where it will seek a $12.8 million group costs order for running a shareholder class action against G8 Education.
Investment bank JP Morgan Securities has been fined $775,000 by the corporate cop after it failed to interrogate a number of unusual orders on wheat futures that should have raised red flags.
Appellate guidance is needed on whether a history of cooperation between law firms that brought competing class actions can be the deciding factor in a close carriage contest, the Victorian Court of Appeal has heard.
Investment firm London City Equities is seeking to have fellow publicly traded firm Excelsior wound up for alleged shareholder oppression over its decision to sell off a subsidiary for $101 million and not distribute the proceeds.
A class action against failed asset finance lender Axsesstoday and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers has reached an in-principle settlement with the lender’s insurers.