A shareholder has filed an application for preliminary discovery against KMPG and water treatment company Phoslock as she weighs a possible class action over the company’s past fraud and mismanagement.
Lawyers are allowed to take a cut from a class action settlement or judgment under a so-called solicitors’ common fund order, the Full Federal Court has ruled, saying they are a permissive use of the court’s power.
The Federal Court is set to become a more attractive forum for class actions now that the Full Court has confirmed it has power to make orders granting solicitors a contingency fee from any settlement or judgment in a group proceeding.
Generic drug maker Mayne Pharma has resolved a shareholder class action centred on disclosures connected to price-fixing claims by US regulators.
A class action on behalf of Axsesstoday bondholders has reached a settlement with accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, with a court hearing that group members will get almost 50 per cent of the proceeds.
Previously noting the rate was “well outside the median range”, a judge has made an order granting the second highest contingency fee to a law firm running a shareholder class action against vehicle company FleetPartners Group, saying he was satisfied the group costs order was appropriate and necessary.
The liquidators of collapsed media company Big Un are pushing for a trial date in their two-year-old case against financier First Class Capital alleging a three million share purchase was part of a fraudulent design to inflate the collapsed company’s share price.
Shareholders of Commonwealth Bank have lodged expected appeals challenging a decision tossing their class actions over alleged lax money laundering compliance, giving the Full Federal Court a chance to clarify when companies must disclose regulatory investigations.
Counsel for Worley in a nine-year-old shareholder class action that is set for another Full Court appeal has foreshadowed a possible recusal application against the judges who heard the first appeal.
A court has found iSignthis and its former CEO Nickolas John Karantzis breached the Corporations Act in disclosures to the stock market about one-off revenue and the termination of the fintech’s business arrangement with Visa.