The judge overseeing a conflicted remuneration class action against Suncorp has allowed the class to bring an unconscionable conduct claim, but put the kibosh on the plaintiff’s use of the phrase ‘inter alia,’ saying “only I get to use Latin”.
A magistrate has dismissed a bid to expand the cross examination of a JPMorgan witness in the closely watched criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement, calling it a “back door” attempt to bypass a prior court ruling.
A committal hearing in the ANZ cartel case may run a further nine days next year due to ongoing arguments about subpoenas and privilege, which have derailed five planned days of cross-examination of key witnesses and led a Local Court Magistrate to proclaim she was “awful close” to ending her life.
The banks and executives facing criminal charges over alleged cartel conduct related to ANZ’s $2.5 billion share placement in 2015 will fight to widen their cross-examination of key ACCC witnesses after new information was brought to light in late submissions by the regulator.
A key witness from JPMorgan previously contested claims by the ACCC that a key component of an alleged cartel arrangement between four major banks around a $2.5 billion institutional share placement by ANZ was actually an ‘agreement,’ as opposed to a series of independent decisions, a court has heard.
Two key witnesses from JPMorgan have been grilled by lawyers for three major investments banks named in a high-stakes criminal cartel case as the banks seek to cast doubt on how the ACCC gathered evidence during its almost two-year cartel investigation.
Liquidators of collapsed steel and mining company Arrium will challenge a ruling that gave shareholders the greenlight to question a former director to mount a possible class action, and have secured a limited stay of the judgment to lodge a notice of appeal.
The funders behind two shareholder class actions against online fashion retailer Surfstitch Group will seek a commission of up to 30 per cent while the law firms that brought the cases will ask for approval of up to $6 million in legal fees during an upcoming settlement approval hearing, which also puts the fate of a deed of company arrangement that saved the company from liquidation on the line.
Shareholders of collapsed steel and mining giant Arrium have won the OK to question a one-time director over possible class action claims that former officers misled the market and that auditor KPMG was negligent in preparing a healthy financial report just two years before the company went under.
Whether judges can alter the terms of litigation funding agreements in class actions is a question that will remain unsettled for now, after litigation funder IMF Bentham chose to sidestep a lengthy, costly and risky challenge to the reach of the court’s powers.