Group members in a recently settled class action against Westpac unit BankSA over its conduct in connection with convicted Ponzi schemer Michael Samra are expected to get 40 per cent of the confidential settlement, a result a judge said wasn’t as bad as he might have feared.
An application by the former boss of Sirtex Medical for a sentencing date in the insider trading case against him has raised the ire of a NSW District Court judge, who called the bid premature and an attempt to jump the queue.
Fitch Ratings has agreed to settle the last of the investor class actions in Australia flowing from the global financial crisis, a court heard Friday.
We have started to see the Federal Court use its discretionary powers in respect of class actions to order defendants to disclose their insurance policies to plaintiffs. The emergence of these disclosure orders is an example of the flexible and pragmatic approach increasingly being adopted by the Federal Court in class actions, say Johnson Winter & Slattery’s Frances Dreyer and Nicholas Briggs.
Residential aged care provider Estia Health says it will “vigorously defend” a class action filed by Phi Finney McDonald on behalf of shareholders who allege the company failed to disclose serious commercial difficulties with its acquisition strategy.
A judge overseeing the pelvic mesh class action against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon has questioned why three doctor’s professional bodies tried to negotiate court orders requiring them to hand over their member lists, agreeing the supboena was “not a garden party invitation”.
A judge overseeing a class action against engineering company UGL has agreed to extend a class closure order to give the parties a second chance to resolve the case in mediation, but not without expressing concerns that the order did not have the intended effect of encouraging settlement at the first sit-down.
The judge overseeing the Sydney light rail class action has ordered that a contradictor be appointed to weigh in on a proposed common fund order, which includes a 25 per cent commission for the funder that is backing the case.
Slater & Gordon is probing a possible class action against Allergan Australia on behalf of women who developed a rare form of lymphoma linked to the company’s textured breast implants.
Two former executives of Dick Smith may seek to vacate an upcoming trial date for two class actions against the failed retailer, after recently being hit with cross claims by the company’s former auditor, Deloitte.