A judge has released his reasons for consolidating two shareholder class actions against logistics company Brambles over opposition by the lead applicant in one of the competing cases, saying the interests of group members trumped those of the lawyers and funders in the case.
A self-described “vigilant lawyer against big companies” has attempted to make submissions regarding the costs incurred in the Sirtex shareholder class action settlement, with legal fees and funders’ commissions chewing up half of the $40 million settlement figure. Maurice Blackburn took the lead after two shareholder class actions relating to the biotech company’s revised sales…
Sirtex Medical has reached a mid-trial agreement to resolve a shareholder class action that centred on the biotech company’s sales forecasts of its radiation treatment.
An investor who successfully objected to an initial settlement of four class actions over the failed Willmott Forests managed investment scheme lost a bid to have his legal costs paid by the defendants, with a judge saying the objections were not the primary basis for his refusal to sign off on the agreement.
Mortgage lending and investment firm RMBL Investments has been ordered to withdraw all communications with its customers that encouraged them to opt-out of a consumer protection class action against the firm.
Crown Resorts has appealed a ruling in a shareholder class action against it allowing 18 former employees, who were jailed as part of the Chinese government’s crackdown on gambling, to answer questions about its business in China.
One of two lead applicants in the settled Arasor shareholder class action has been denied leave to be heard over its $1 million personal expenses dispute with litigation funder International Litigation Partners after missing a filing deadline, with a judge calling its handling of the case “shambolic”.
UGL knew a loss for its Ichthys power project was “looming” as early as February 2014, according to amended pleadings in a shareholder class action, which claims the engineering firm should have forecast a loss of $129 million for the project.
The Bank of Queensland has criticised a judgment which found the bank’s insurance policy left it on the hook for a $6 million settlement of a class action brought by investors in a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme by jailed fraudster Bradley Sherwin.
A judge has consolidated two shareholder class actions brought against chain logistics company Brambles by Slater & Gordon and Maurice Blackburn, despite the rival firms failing to reach an agreement on the terms of the consolidation following a judge’s criticism of the class action “beauty parade”.