Maurice Blackburn’s shareholder class action against AMP — the only action not backed by a litigation funder — has been picked as the winner in a fierce battle of law firms vying to lead a high stakes case over the wealth manager’s fees for no service scandal.
A hearing scheduled for later this year in several class actions and an ACCC proceeding over allegations Volkswagen installed dual-mode software in diesel vehicles to cheat on emissions tests has been postponed, despite cries of prejudice from the consumer regulator.
Accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers is resisting a notice to produce audit files in a consolidated shareholder class action over the collapse of education and training company Vocation, arguing its partners face a real risk of criminal and civil penalty proceedings and are entited to claim privilege against self-incrimination.
A ruling by a judge deciding a four-way contest to run a shareholder class action against AMP is expected this week, a judgment significant not just because it is the first time a court in Australia has been asked to choose among so many competing representative cases.
The lead applicant in a shareholder class action against global engineering firm CIMIC Group has made a bid for indemnity costs, after a last-minute subpoena of three former executives led to the trial being vacated.
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”.
A judge has granted a bid to add former Radio Rentals CEO James Marshall and the beleaguered company’s insurer, AIG Australia, as respondents in a class action, over the protests of Marshall’s lawyer, who said his client couldn’t afford to pay for his defence.
Lawyers for a shareholder class action against Crown Resorts have won their hard-fought battle to question ex-employees about the casino giant’s thwarted business in China, with a judge ruling Wednesday there would likely be a “serious adverse effect” on the administration of justice if they weren’t free to give evidence ahead of trial.
The Montarra oil spill class action trial has been pushed back by two weeks, following the filing of late expert evidence by the applicants “without leave, without notice,” according to oil company PTTEP.
Banking giant Westpac has criticised the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s old fashioned approach to home loan serviceability, saying its own complex system is more efficient and would “pass muster” in the face of the regulator’s allegations that it breached responsible lending laws.