Embattled financial giant AMP on Tuesday criticised concerns raised by lawyers for the federal class actions about group members’ opt out rights, saying the concerns were a “red herring” in the fight against an order transferring their cases to the NSW Supreme Court.
AMP has slammed arguments that group members in four Federal Court class actions could face a jurisdictional limitation on their claims of disclosure breaches if their cases are transferred to state court, saying no such disadvantage exists.
The Federal Court offers group members in the shareholder class actions against AMP a major legal advantage over the NSW Supreme Court, lawyers for the federal cases have argued ahead of a hearing in the controversial jurisdictional battle.
Slater and Gordon has filed a shareholder class action against Brambles over its allegedly misleading and overly rosy 2017 financial forecasts, beating rival Maurice Blackburn to the punch almost 10 months after it announced it was investigating a shareholder class action against the logistics company.
A barrister for a class action against Radio Rentals has told the Federal Court the company’s “strange” lease contracts may have been worded solely to avoid its obligations under the Uniform Consumer Credit Code.
Mining giant BHP Billiton has reached a $50 million deal to settle the US class action over the 2015 dam failure at the Samarco mine in Brazil.
In a case that hinges on the evidence of expert witnesses, the judge overseeing the class action over the 2011 Queensland floods has partly upheld an objection to a revised report by the state of Queensland’s expert regarding an error in the flood-modelling by the plaintiff’s expert witness.
Former Slater & Gordon auditor Pitcher Partners has been hit with a class action alleging it signed off on an overly rosy 2015 year-end financial report that failed to disclose risks and impairments the firm faced from its recent acquisition of UK firm Quindell.
A judge has dismissed a bid by PriceWaterhouseCoopers to have one of two law firms bow out of a joint class action against the accounting giant after a lead applicant died.
BHP Billiton is facing the possibility of a second shareholder class action over the Fundao dam failure at its mine in Brazil, but the cases may be put on hold pending the outcome of homicide charges against company employees.