Convenience store chain 7-Eleven has asked the High Court to find courts do not have the power to make common fund orders at settlement or judgment in a class action, one year after the High Court ruled common fund orders could not be made in the early part of a representative proceeding.
A judge has found that a litigation funder’s involvement in settlement negotiations without the presence of the applicant’s lawyers in a shareholder class action against Spotless Group, which recently settled for $95 million, was “inappropriate”.
The Full Court Federal Court has declined to answer a question posed by 7-Eleven as to whether common fund orders can be made on settlement or judgment in a class action, saying the issue should be dealt with on facts, not assumptions. In a judgment handed down on Tuesday, the Full Court dismissed 7-Eleven’s bid…
The High Court majority’s reasoning in the decision nixing common fund orders at an early stage of a class action leads “inexorably and inevitably” to the conclusion that there is no power to make such an order at any time in a proceeding, counsel for 7-Eleven has told an appeals court.
A contradictor appointed in two class actions against 7-Eleven will argue before the Full Federal Court that the court has power both in equity and under the Federal Court of Australia Act to make common fund orders in class actions on settlement or judgment.
Over-the-counter derivative issuers AGM Markets, OT Markets and Oxifin Tech have been ordered to pay a total of $75 million in penalties after a ruling that they engaged in unconscionable conduct causing losses of over $30 million to unsophisticated investors seeking what a judge called “financial heroin hits”.
A judge has signed off on a $95 million settlement in a shareholder class action against Spotless after a heated exchange saw the funders backing the lawsuit drop their bid for $1.5 million in costs above their commission.
ASIC has notched up a win against derivative issuer AGM Markets and two of its authorised representatives, with a court finding they engaged in misleading, deceptive and unconscionable conduct that caused investor losses of over $30 million.
A judge has ordered the legal teams behind two settled Surfstitch class actions to have another crack at the opt out notice, saying the current version is “just too confusing” for group members.