Maurice Blackburn’s funding model rejected by a judge overseeing a beauty parade of class actions against BHP appeared structured to incentivise the firm to push up its legal fees, an appeals court said Monday on the first day of a high stakes hearing challenging a decision to shut down two of three competing cases against the mining giant.
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.
The trial in a much anticipated shareholder class action against engineering firm WorleyParsons scheduled to commence this week has hit a roadblock, with a last minute change in the judge that will hear the matter.
The high-stakes contest to run a shareholder class action against BHP has begun, with lawyers for three competing cases all arguing in Federal Court Monday that there can be only one winner.
A judge has granted Cargill Australia’s request to call a King & Wood Mallesons solicitor that represented Viterra as a witness in the epic trial over the $420 million sale of Viterra’s Joe White business to Cargill in 2013.
Viterra is blaming several former employees for representations made about malt quality in the lead-up to the $420 million sale of its Joe White business to Cargill Australia in 2013.
BHP Billiton is facing the possibility of a second shareholder class action over the Fundao dam failure at its mine in Brazil, but the cases may be put on hold pending the outcome of homicide charges against company employees.