Freedom Foods and its auditor Deloitte have been hit with a shareholder class action after a shock announcement last week of more than $590 million in write-downs stemming from accounting irregularities.
A judge has found that a litigation funder’s involvement in settlement negotiations without the presence of the applicant’s lawyers in a shareholder class action against Spotless Group, which recently settled for $95 million, was “inappropriate”.
A $50 million settlement has been reached in a long-running shareholder class action against defunct vocational training company Vocation that also spawned multiple cross-claims against the failed company’s auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers, law firm Johnson Winter & Slattery and individual directors.
A judge has lashed out at the legal team behind a class action against S&P over allegedly misleading credit ratings for filing hearsay evidence in support of an application to serve the ratings giant overseas, saying that “nobody who is a first year law student” would say the evidence was admissible.
Australia’s largest childcare centre operator G8 Education has been hit with a shareholder class action alleging the company failed to keep investors in the loop about increased costs and occupancy rates affecting its 2017 financial performance.
The lead applicant in a class action against Bayer over allegedly defective Essure contraceptive devices will ask the court to discontinue its claims against two makers of the controversial medical implants.
CFMEU official Michael O’Connor has successfully appealed a ruling that threw out his lawsuit seeking to restrain union heavyweight John Setka from poaching members from the union’s manufacturing division.
A contractual dispute between a litigation funder and the lead applicant in a class action against S&P will not prevent the class action from progressing, with both parties giving undertakings to preserve the status quo while the feud remains on foot.
Notice of the discontinuance of a class action on behalf of Slater & Gordon shareholders against Pitcher Partners need not be sent to all group members, a judge has ruled, acknowledging there would be “significant practical difficulties” with trying to reach everyone.
Slater & Gordon has settled a lawsuit brought by a former senior solicitor alleging he was fired after making complaints about the law firm’s arrangement with a third-party funder for personal injury clients.