Majority shareholders in MWL Financial have won court approval to bring a derivative suit against US-based Focus Financial Partners over an acquisition gone sour.
Last year was an exciting one for class action lawyers, with monumental court decisions on competing cases, cross-jurisdictional spats, proportionality in settlements and the power of judges to decide how a recovery is distributed. Here, top class action litigators tell us what the most significant rulings of 2018 were and why the decisions will continue to matter this year.
In a situation a judge has called “extraordinary and troubling”, Deloitte’s files on failed construction company Hastie — sought as evidence by shareholders in a class action — have vanished from the accounting giant’s locked ‘litigation room’ and are now in the control of a single partner who refuses to return them.
A multi-million dollar settlement has been reached in a shareholder class action against private training company Ashley Services over its $67 million tumble two years ago.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has not ruled out a challenge to a ruling that two Westpac subsidiaries didn’t provide personal financial advice as part of a campaign encouraging customers to roll over external superannuation accounts.
French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has appealed a judge’s ruling denying its bid to block Alphapharm from listing an insulin injector pen on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme.
Unilever’s allegations that consumer goods competitor Beiersdorf made misleading claims about its Nivea clinical strength deodorant products don’t pass the smell test, a judge has found.
A case that challenges the test for determining casual employment under the Fair Work Act is a matter of public importance and will be heard by the Full Federal Court, the court’s top judge has said.
Online news publisher Buzzfeed will have to defend an allegation by Labor MP Emma Husar that an article it published implied she’s a “slut”, despite never actually using the word to describe the politician.
Debt collector ACM Group has been hit with a $750,000 fine for engaging in unconscionable conduct by misleading, harassing and coercing two vulnerable customers while chasing unpaid debts.