Australian agricultural fund manager Rural Funds Group has won its legal action alleging US short seller Bonitas Research engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct when it described the group’s equity as “ultimately worthless” and sent its share price plummeting.
Engineering services company CIMIC will fork over $32.4 million to settle a shareholder class action, with group members expected to get 40 per cent of the settlement total if the court approves the requested legal costs and funder’s commission.
The lead applicant in a shareholder class action against laser technology company Arasor will walk away with a fraction of the approximately $508,000 in legal and other bills it has racked up in disputes with the ATO and funder International Litigation Partners following the approval of a $19.25 million class action settlement more than two years ago.
Two shareholder class actions against failed electronics retailer Dick Smith will head to trial in March, after a failed attempt to resolve the long-running dispute in mediation.
A former director of Atrum Coal has been ordered to pay over $6 million owed to a unit of Hong Kong finance giant Argonaut Group after a prior default saw the former executive lose $12 million worth of shares in the company.
Maurice Blackburn has become the second law firm to consider a shareholder class action against Treasury Wine Estates over a recent earnings downgrade.
The funder behind the recently resolved shareholder class action against teleco Vocus will ask a judge to make a common fund order at a hearing to approve a $35 million settlement of the case, the first common fund order since the High Court appeared to put the kibosh on them.
Westpac is now facing at least eight class actions in various US courts seeking $200 million from the bank for allegedly failing to alert shareholders to violations of anti-money laundering laws.
After failing to persuade the court at trial, shareholders in a class action against Myer have another chance to prove they suffered financial loss after the department store was found to have repeatedly neglected to correct an inflated profit forecast from former CEO Bernie Brookes five years ago.
A judge overseeing the first of what could be many shareholder class actions over Westpac’s anti-money laundering breaches — brought by class action specialists Phi Finney McDonald — has given other law firms a three-week deadline to notify the court if they plan to file competing proceedings.