The judge overseeing two class actions over legal and accounting advice given ahead of Slater & Gordon’s disastrous Quindell acquisition has said he will hear the cases together, citing the “dangers” of the approach taken in litigation against GetSwift, which resulted in a judge being ordered to step down.
A judge has found the lead applicant and funder in a discontinued class action against Pitcher Partners over its auditing of Slater & Gordon must pay the bill for the flurry of cross-claims brought in the proceeding, but has rejecting the accounting firm’s argument that its costs should be paid on an indemnity basis.
Professionsal services giant EY has added to the many cross-claims flying in the shareholder class action against Pitcher Partners over advice to law firm Slater & Gordon, and has alleged the accounting firm engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and negligence and that it breached its retainer.
Payouts in class actions in 2020 largely kept pace with the previous year despite the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, with companies and other defendants paying more than $696 million to settle class actions last year.
The law firm that led an unfunded class action against the Federal government over the controversial Robodebt scheme will ask the court to approve up to $16 million in legal costs when it seeks approval for the $112 million settlement reached in the class action last year.
The applicant in the settled Robodebt class action has warned a judge he will have a “dispute on [his] hands” if the government presses an argument that law firm Gordon Legal is not entitled to some of its legal fees — an argument the court was told would put the Commonwealth in breach of the settlement deed.
The parties in a class action against the Federal Government over the controversial Robodebt scheme have reached an in principle settlement as the first day of a highly anticipated hearing was scheduled to kick off.
A judge has expressed doubts that every group member in the Robodebt class action is vulnerable, as the parties gear up for two-week trial in the high-profile case over the unlawful debt recovery method that begins Monday.
A judge has expressed skepticism at claims by accounting firm Pitcher Partners that the lead applicant of a now dropped class action over its auditing advice to Slater & Gordon should be hit with indemnity costs for discontinuing the case.
Johnson Winter & Slattery persisted with a shareholder class action over auditing advice given to Slater & Gordon despite concerns about the strength of the claims raised in late 2017, Pitcher Partners has told the Federal Court as it seeks indemnity costs for the now abandoned proceeding.