Facing cross claims by Pitcher Partners in two shareholder class actions alleging the accounting firm wrongly signed off on Slater & Gordon’s financial reports ahead of a share price nosedive, the law firm and its ex-directors say they relied on the auditor to ensure the veracity of the statements.
Rival law firms Phi Finney McDonald and Maurice Blackburn have offered to consolidate their competing shareholder class actions against BHP after prompting by the Full Federal Court, which said Friday it approved of the plan.
Shareholders of troubled sandalwood producer Quintis who are eligible group members in two consolidated class actions against the company can bet on which of the two cases will give them the best returns, if any, and the Federal Court has appointed an independent lawyer to help them make the choice.
Ernst & Young, which has been named in a class action over its auditing of sandalwood producer Quintis, has filed cross-claims alleging Quintis should pick up the tab for any liability it may face in the proceedings.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has lost its market manipulation action against Whitebox Trading and its director Johannes Boshoff, with the court finding it was “practically impossible” that any of the trades at the centre of the case were made for an illegitimate purpose.
The government of East Timor will appeal a Victorian Supreme Court judgment dismissing its application to throw out a case brought by oil and gas firm Lighthouse Corporation over a failed fuel supply agreement.
Failed sandalwood oil producer Quintis has agreed to hand over insurance policies showing any coverage for potential liability it or its former CEO may have in two class actions brought against them.
Westpac unit BankSA is in talks to resolve a class action alleging it failed to detect the fraud of convicted Ponzi schemer Michael Samra.
The law firm running a shareholder class action against GetSwift confirmed it was looking at the events surrounding Tuesday’s trading halt by the Australian Stock Exchange but would not be amending its ongoing case against the logistics company in light of it.
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.