ASIC and the applicant in a class action against GetSwift have intervened in an application by the logistics provider to relocate its headquarters to Canada, aiming to ensure shareholders are aware of the potential outcomes of the regulator’s enforcement action, which include banning orders against directors Bane Hunter and Joel Macdonald.
ASIC’s case against GetSwift and its founders Joel Macdonald and Bane Hunter makes accusations against both directors but relies on alleged conduct by only Hunter, a lawyer for Macdonald has told a court on the last day of trial in the corporate regulator’s case.
GetSwift is keeping up its fight to have the judge overseeing a shareholder class action disqualify himself from the proceedings after overseeing the trial in the corporate regulator’s case against the logistics provider.
A class action targeting security companies contracted by the Victorian government to guard returning travellers in hotel quarantine has been launched, bringing to three the number of group proceedings filed over the botched program.
The Andrews government is facing another COVID-19 related class action, this one on behalf of farm operators financially stung by Victorian and South Australian border closures.
Common fund orders are again under scrutiny in a class action which was at the centre of the High Court’s decision to strike down the orders, with a NSW Supreme Court judge sending back to the appeals court the question of whether the orders can be made at settlement.
GetSwift has promised the Federal Court that it will inform the lead applicant in a shareholder class action if any of its assets are to be transferred outside of Australia, after the applicant raised concerns about the logistics company’s proposed relocation to Canada.
Australian construction company Grocon has been ordered to pay $1 million in security for costs to continue its pursuit of a $270 million lawsuit against Infrastructure NSW over the development of Central Barangaroo, despite claiming it’s financials have taken a hit from the pandemic.
The applicants in a shareholder class action against Dreamworld owner Ardent Leisure over a 2016 tragedy in which four people died following a ride malfunction have lost their request for the company’s insurance documents, with a judge rejecting suggestions that the theme park operator lacks assets to pay the estimated $310 million in claims.
The judge overseeing a class action against GetSwift has refused to disqualify himself from the proceedings, rejecting claims that he could not be seen to approach the case with an “impartial mind” and taking a passing shot at the logistics company’s use of the Americanism “recuse” in its application.