A judge has raised serious concerns about the proposed commission by the funder behind a $90 million sham contracting class action against fundraiser Appco, slamming as “intuitively wrong” an arrangment that could leave group members pocketing less than half of any recovery.
The applicants in the Iluka Resources investor class action have just 14 days to sort out their funding troubles and provide a $1.25 million security, as a judge warns he will not be able to hold their trial date any longer.
The writing may be on the wall for common fund orders in class actions that put all unregistered group members on the hook for a litigation funder’s commission, after the High Court agreed Wednesday to take up landmark challenges by Westpac and BMW, experts say.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has dropped its probe into Blue Sky over possible violations of its continuous disclosure obligations, but the fund manager still faces three active shareholder class action investigations.
The High Court has granted applications by Westpac and BMW to weigh in on the validity of common fund orders made in class actions, a decision that could have major ramifications for the way representative proceedings are funded.
Irrigators in Australia’s South East have launched a class action against the Murray-Darling Basin Authority claiming its mismanagement of the river system caused up to $830 million in losses.
APRA has been ordered to hand over all of its correspondence with fellow regulator ASIC relating to former IOOF chairman George Venardos, as he prepares to argue privilege over discovery that might incriminate him in any possible ASIC proceedings.
The Bank of Queensland has criticised a judgment which found the bank’s insurance policy left it on the hook for a $6 million settlement of a class action brought by investors in a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme by jailed fraudster Bradley Sherwin.
A battle over expert evidence in an invester class action against Fitch Ratings has delayed this month’s scheduled trial in the case by three months and forced the court to send the parties’ experts into conclaves.
Recycling company Sims Metal Management has responded to a shareholder class action ahead of a hearing on Tuesday, denying it breached its continuous disclosure obligations and partially placing the blame for any losses at the feet of group members.