A judge has praised funder IMF Bentham for not seeking to recover from group members the cost of a withdrawn common fund application in one of Shine Lawyer’s toxic foam class actions, agreeing instead to cop the loss itself.
Maurice Blackburn has partly prevailed in an appeal of a judge’s decision to put the brakes on its shareholder class action against BHP while greenlighting a competing case brought by Phi Finney McDonald, with an appeals court ordering the rival law firms to negotiate a deal to consolidate their litigation.
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.
An appeals court has slashed a damages judgment against international banknote manufacturer CCL Secure in a case alleging it tricked its Nigerian agent into signing away his commission, cutting the award from $65 million to $1.8 million.
Parties in an ongoing four-and-a-half year long investor class action against Fitch Ratings have agreed to a second round of mediation after a prior attempt was adjourned without success.
AMP’s financial planning unit has admitted it breached the Corporations Act when at least one of its representatives engaged in so-called insurance policy churning, in a case brought by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission that will now head to a hearing on penalties next month.
A judge has raised serious concerns about the proposed commission by the funder behind a $90 million sham contracting class action against fundraiser Appco, slamming as “intuitively wrong” an arrangment that could leave group members pocketing less than half of any recovery.
A battle over expert evidence in an invester class action against Fitch Ratings has delayed this month’s scheduled trial in the case by three months and forced the court to send the parties’ experts into conclaves.
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”.
The Quintis shareholder class action trial could be delayed for almost two years, while ASIC runs its civil proceedings case against the founder of the sandalwood oil production company.