A judge has ordered all proceedings against Dick Smith to be heard concurrently during a marathon three month trial, after the plaintiffs in a shareholder class action brought against the failed electronics retailer’s insurers aborted a fleeting bid to temporarily discontinue their case.
The plaintiffs in an investor class action filed against Dick Smith’s insurers want a separate hearing from four other representative and company proceedings against the failed electronics retailer, arguing there would be only the “thinnest basis” for concurrent proceedings if their strike out application was successful.
Former Dick Smith executives Nick Abboud and Michael Potts have pointed the finger at the defunct electronics retailer’s other directors in response to cross claims by auditor Deloitte, which is named in two shareholder class actions over the company’s collapse.
The plaintiffs in an investor class action brought against the insurers of Dick Smith have lost an early bid to determine the viability of their claim, amid concerns that the total value of five separate cases against the failed retailer will exhaust the $300 million limit of two insurance policies.
Two former executives of Dick Smith may seek to vacate an upcoming trial date for two class actions against the failed retailer, after recently being hit with cross claims by the company’s former auditor, Deloitte.
Allianz and a number of other insurers of Dick Smith are now facing a class action over the extent of coverage under an insurance policy for the collapsed electronics retailer’s initial public offering.