An investment fund named after a 17th-century pirate has hit the National Stock Exchange with a $6.3 million lawsuit over a suspension decision it calls “capricious” and a violation of the NSX’s terms.
Lawfinance, formerly known as Just Kapital, has won summary dismissal of a lawsuit initiated by its founder seeking a piece of the funder’s $5 million cut of the $16.85 million Wickham securities class action settlement.
UGL shareholders that signed up to a class action against the engineering company over disclosures related to its Ichthys power plant contract will get less than half of an $18 million settlement, even after the litigation funder takes a steep cut to its 30 per cent commission and the plaintiff’s firm caps its fees.
The funder backing a shareholder class action against Woolworths wants a 35 percent slice of any settlement or judgment in the $100 million case, according to its agreement with the applicants.
A groundbreaking class action ruling by the Federal Court on Thursday that found Myer misled shareholders and accepted the applicant’s market-based causation theory is the only judgment in an Australian securities class action since the first shareholder case was brought 20 years ago, and it might be the only one for years to come.
A judge has ruled that department store Myer engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and breached its continuous disclosure obligations when it failed to correct its “inflated” 2015 net profit forecasts, but said shareholders may not have suffered any loss flowing from the breaches, in a monumental decision that also found investors do not always need to prove direct reliance on misrepresentations in claiming damages in class actions.
Slater & Gordon UK has agreed to a $20.7 million settlement of its claims against Watchstone Group, after seeking more than $1 billion from the insurance company over a botched 2015 acquisition that has spawned multiple class actions against the Australian firm.
A judge’s decision refusing to approve a $42 million settlement in a shareholder class action against Murray Goulburn because of a “too high” funder’s commission has set the stage for a showdown over the power of courts to alter funding agreements, a battle potentially more consequential than the fight over common fund orders now before the High Court.
A judge has dismissed three proceedings by shareholders against the liquidator of failed global financial services firm Babcock & Brown, in a finding that highlights “serious problems” with market-based causation and may have ramifications for securities class actions.
Activist US short seller Bonitas Research is refusing to participate in legal action brought in Australia by Rural Funds Group, as it continues to press allegations of fraud, which sent the agricultural fund manager’s share price plummeting.