Shareholders who lost a Federal Court trial in their class action against engineering company Worley are challenging the decision to dismiss the case.
That a first filed case should be the presumptive winner in a competition between class actions seemed a losing argument before the High Court on Tuesday as the justices weighed a challenge to a ruling picking one among a group of class actions against AMP, but the court also appeared skeptical of the power to hold wide ranging inquiries into the merits of competing cases.
The eyes of class action lawyers will be on the High Court Tuesday as it hears arguments over a judge’s power to choose a single class action among competing proceedings and what, if anything, should be made of a case’s funding structure and likely returns to group members when picking a winner.
A judge has sided with Worley in a ruling tossing a class action after a trial alleged the engineering company misled shareholders and breached disclosure rules by issuing an overly positive earnings guidance of $322 million for the 2014 financial year.
A judge’s decision to throw out a shareholder class action against engineering company Worley is a loss for plaintiffs lawyers and could result in fewer listed companies willing to settle cases alleging they breached their disclosure obligations, but the ruling is not likely to have a significant chilling effect on securities litigation.
Maurice Blackburn is pushing back against an appeal by Treasury Wine Estates, which accuses the law firm and a barrister of breaching their obligations by using evidence discovered in a settled class action to launch a second case against the wine maker.
A court has given the green light for opt out and registration notices to be sent to group members in a shareholder class action against AMP, despite objections by the lead plaintiff in a competing class action.
Maurice Blackburn did not breach its obligations by using material from a now settled class action against Treasury Wine Estates to draft new class action pleadings against the wine maker, a court has found.
The courts are to be congratulated for swiftly adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic by introducing virtual hearings, but barristers told Lawyerly they were raring to get back to in-person hearings, and cited numerous disadvantages of holding complex matters online.
A claim by Treasury Wine Estates that Maurice Blackburn — but no other law firm — is prohibited from bringing a shareholder class action over disclosure breaches related to its US business had an “air of unreality” about it, a judge has said.