WorleyParsons has abandoned its mid-trial application to shut down a shareholder class action, amid uncertainty about whether the engineering company would be required to surrender its right to call reply evidence if it continued with its submission that it has no case to answer.
Counsel for WorleyParsons has denied the engineering firm’s attempt to end a shareholder class action mid-trial would be the start of a “brave new world” of no-case bids in representative proceedings, saying this was a rare instance of a case with “no chance of success”.
Two units of global insurer Lloyd’s have launched a constitutional challenge to a Federal Court order requiring accounting firm Pitcher Partners to hand over certain insurance documents in two shareholder class actions.
Engineering firm WorleyParsons has told the Federal Court it will press forward with a no case application in an attempt to shut down a shareholder class action against it.
WorleyParsons may seek to shut down a shareholder class action against it due to an “insuperable obstacle” caused by last minute pleading amendments, the engineering firm told a court at the outset of a 21-day hearing.
A judge has refused an application to suppress the identity of a franchisee giving evidence in two class actions against 7-Eleven despite the individual’s fears he may lose his franchising licence as retaliation by the global convenience store giant.
A judge overseeing a class action against engineering company UGL has agreed to extend a class closure order to give the parties a second chance to resolve the case in mediation, but not without expressing concerns that the order did not have the intended effect of encouraging settlement at the first sit-down.
An attempt by applicants in two franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven to limit communications between the convenience store giant and group members ahead of a hearing to approve a confidential settlement with ANZ, the bank that loaned money to the franchisees, unfairly delays approval of the settlement until next year, a court has heard.
The National Australia Bank has filed a lawsuit against its Singapore-based captive insurance unit and three syndicates of global insurance giant Lloyd’s seeking coverage for two consumer redress schemes related to the bank’s sale of interest rate hedging products and fixed rate tailored business loans.