Luxury car maker BMW has told the NSW Court of Appeal that the courts do not have power to make common fund orders at any stage of a group proceeding, arguing that such orders would distort the scope of the class action regime by encouraging litigation funders to pursue lawsuits.
A showdown over two competing class actions against AMP is set down for December, and the applicants will have to persuade the judge overseeing the cases that they should not be consolidated.
Dropping a class action against accounting firm Pitcher Partners over Slater & Gordon’s disastrous acquisition of UK professional services firm Quindell will leave group members no worse off than they were when the proceeding first commenced, the Federal Court has heard.
A fight is brewing over whether US and UK passengers aboard the Ruby Princess should be part of a class action against cruise operators Carnival and Princess Cruise Lines over their handling of a deadly coronavirus outbreak on the ship that has been linked to at least 20 deaths.
Maurice Blackburn is looking at potentially expanding its shareholder class action against Crown Resorts after it emerged at the NSW gaming authority inquiry that the casino giant may have breached anti-money laundering laws.
A judge has sided with Worley in a ruling tossing a class action after a trial alleged the engineering company misled shareholders and breached disclosure rules by issuing an overly positive earnings guidance of $322 million for the 2014 financial year.
An offer by billionaire Clive Palmer to pay $21 million for all remaining shares in villas at the Palmer Coolum Resort in Queensland and drop 14 lawsuits over resort ownership has been rejected by villa owners.
A judge due to hear a high profile appeal by Johnson & Johnson unit Ethicon has expressed confusion about the grounds on which the medical device maker is challenging a landmark judgment putting it on the hook for potentially hundreds of million of dollars in damages over faulty pelvic mesh implants.
The lawyers behind two class actions against clothing retailer Surfstitch breached their duties to act in the best interests of shareholders, and their conduct should bar them from pocketing more than $6 million claimed in costs and commission in the protracted litigation, a court has heard.
A judge’s decision to throw out a shareholder class action against engineering company Worley is a loss for plaintiffs lawyers and could result in fewer listed companies willing to settle cases alleging they breached their disclosure obligations, but the ruling is not likely to have a significant chilling effect on securities litigation.