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.
ANZ has recruited seasoned class actions lawyer Ken Adams to be its next group general counsel as the bank faces two cases over a botched share placement and braces for the possibility of more litigation in the wake of the Banking Royal Commission.
UGL knew a loss for its Ichthys power project was “looming” as early as February 2014, according to amended pleadings in a shareholder class action, which claims the engineering firm should have forecast a loss of $129 million for the project.
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.
US hedge fund Oaktree Capital has placed fund manager Blue Sky Alternative Investments into receivership, following a tumultuous period marked by the loss of senior executives and three shareholder class action investigations amid concerns about the company’s method for valuing its assets under management.
Australian distribution firm Halifax Vogel has struck back at a class action alleging it violated consumer laws with its representations regarding the quality of Alucobond cladding, denying that the cladding puts buildings and their occupants at risk of harm or death from fire.
Former IOOF chairman George Venardos will be allowed to object to incriminating evidence and discovery in proceedings brought by APRA, after a court found there was a real and appreciable risk that ASIC could also bring a civil case against him.
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.