Whether a contingency fee order made in a Victoria Supreme Court class action can survive a transfer application to a NSW court could be the next high stakes class action issue for the courts.
A $100 million shareholder class action against supermarket giant Woolworths has settled for $44.5 million, a few days before a 15-day trial was set to begin.
Trial is set to begin February 2 in a $100 million shareholder class action against Woolworths over a February 2015 profit downgrade that allegedly led to a drop in the company’s share price.
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 funder that backed a class action against McMillan Shakespeare over ‘illusory’ car warranties, which settled for less than 20 per cent of the $47.6 million claim value, will seek court approval for a 30 per cent cut of the $9.5 million settlement.
The lead applicant in a $47.6 million class action against McMillan Shakespeare over ‘illusory’ car warranties will seek court approval for a $9.5 million settlement, less than 20 per cent of the claim value.
Notice of the discontinuance of a class action on behalf of Slater & Gordon shareholders against Pitcher Partners need not be sent to all group members, a judge has ruled, acknowledging there would be “significant practical difficulties” with trying to reach everyone.
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.
Dropping a class action against accounting firm Pitcher Partners over Slater & Gordon’s disastrous acquisition of UK professional services firm Quindell will leave group members no worse off than they were when the proceeding first commenced, the Federal Court has heard.