A judge has given the green light to a settlement of seven class actions against ratings agency S&P Global over toxic financial products, saying despite an “extraordinarily large” litigation funding fee the deal was a “significant vindication” of group member claims.
The judge overseeing the GetSwift class action proceedings was bent on picking a winner from the outset and should be removed from the case for rehearing, a barrister for one of the losing law firms told the Full Federal Court Monday.
Settlements totaling $39 million have been reached in two class actions against the former trustee of failed investment groups LKM Capital and GR Finance.
Three senior Federal Court judges will hear arguments Monday and Tuesday in a closely-watched appeal of a ruling that stayed two of three competing shareholder class actions against GetSwift as an abuse of process, and the impact of the Full Court’s ruling will be felt for a long time to come. Here are five major issues the court will be wrestling with over the next two days.
The alleged masterminds behind the $130 million Plutus Payroll tax fraud have been barred by the Full Federal Court from using insurance to cover their $300,000 legal bill in two criminal proceedings.
Law firm Squire Patton Boggs is again on the losing end of a ruling by the judge presiding over a shareholder class action against GetSwift, a case now better known for infighting among lawyers than for the allegations levelled against the tech startup.
Fundraising company Appco told a judge Friday that it faced an ‘injustice’ if a wage case were allowed to proceed as a class action on behalf of over 1,000 workers, but the judge was not impressed, saying the argument made ‘no sense’ to him.
Eight former directors of failed mining company Kagara have settled a shareholder class action alleging they misled investors and falsified the company’s accounting records, the Federal Court heard Friday.
The funders of two class actions against a trustee of failed investment groups LKM Capital and GR Finance have agreed to cut their commission by 15 percentage points.
The amicus hired to assess the funder’s cut of a potentially record settlement in several class actions against S&P Global over toxic financial products has told the judge that if he’s considering approving a funding equalisation order, he should “start with a blank piece of paper” in calculating a reasonable funder’s commission.