Rival law firms Maurice Blackburn and Phi Finney McDonald will be allowed to work together without consolidating their separate shareholder class actions against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, after a judge ruled that the bank had overstated the potential for extra costs and delays.
A NAB-owned trustee is facing a possible class action over $100 million in allegedly excessive fees charged to super fund members.
Boutique class actions law firm Phi Finney McDonald has won its bid to reserve costs incurred before its case was permanently stayed in the AMP shareholder class action beauty contest, after the firm racked up at least 1,345 hours in “sunk costs”.
A judge overseeing competing consumer class actions against AMP over superannuation fees said he would be “reluctant” to hold a contest between the two cases, as the applicants in the rival proceedings tell the court they are in talks about possible consolidation.
The former CEO and director of biotech company Sirtex Medical, Gilman Wong, is facing a maximum ten years in prison after pleading guilty to insider trading.
A judge has released his reasons for consolidating two shareholder class actions against logistics company Brambles over opposition by the lead applicant in one of the competing cases, saying the interests of group members trumped those of the lawyers and funders in the case.
A self-described “vigilant lawyer against big companies” has attempted to make submissions regarding the costs incurred in the Sirtex shareholder class action settlement, with legal fees and funders’ commissions chewing up half of the $40 million settlement figure. Maurice Blackburn took the lead after two shareholder class actions relating to the biotech company’s revised sales…
AMP is a facing a second class action for allegedly charging excessive fees on more than two million superannuation accounts, setting up another potential class action beauty pageant.
Facing cross claims by Pitcher Partners in two shareholder class actions alleging the accounting firm wrongly signed off on Slater & Gordon’s financial reports ahead of a share price nosedive, the law firm and its ex-directors say they relied on the auditor to ensure the veracity of the statements.
A firm owned by solicitor Mark Elliot has launched an appeal challenging costs orders made against it in a stayed class action against winemaker Treasury Wine Estates.