Dion Fahey

The first order allowing plaintiffs lawyers to take a cut of the proceeds of a class action will guarantee group members in a case against G8 Education at least 72.5 per cent of any recoveries — a notably higher percentage than the minimum legislated by a controversial bill before federal parliament.

Class action settlement totals skyrocketed to over $900 million last year, and one law firm negotiated the lion’s share, with $672 million in settlements under its belt.

A judge has rejected an “audacious” attempt by McMillan Shakespeare to recoup a surplus of funds left over after a $9.5 million class action settlement was distributed to registered group members.

Saying the funding arrangement would eliminate the possibility that legal costs ate up the majority of any return to group members, a judge overseeing a shareholder case against G8 Education has issued the first ever group costs order in a class action.

Former Slater & Gordon managing director Andrew Grech has told the Federal Court he regretted his “catastrophic error” in approving the $1.2 billion acquisition of Quindell’s professional services division, which resulted in massive losses for the plaintiffs law firm.

Law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler will part with $28 million in its settlement with Slater & Gordon shareholders over advice ahead of the plaintiffs firm’s disastrous $1.2 billion Quindell acquisition.

A judge hearing the second ever application for a group costs order in a shareholder class action against early childhood education provider G8 Education has heard she should reject the request because it is not “appropriate or necessary” to ensure justice in the proceeding.

A former partner at accounting firm Pitcher Partners has told a court that he had issues working with Ernst & Young on an audit of law firm Slater & Gordon, calling the Big 4 firm “uncooperative”.

A former partner at accounting firm Pitcher Partners has testified during a shareholder class action trial that he should have questioned statements about the viability of Slater & Gordon’s $1.2 billion Quindell acquisition, but ran out of time because its audit of the firm went “off the rails”.

The lead applicant in a shareholder class action over Slater & Gordon’s disastrous $1.2 billion Quindell acquisition has said he might have “dumped” his stock before the firm experienced massive losses in 2016 if not for Pitcher Partners and Ernst & Young’s allegedly faulty advice.