Accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers is resisting a notice to produce audit files in a consolidated shareholder class action over the collapse of education and training company Vocation, arguing its partners face a real risk of criminal and civil penalty proceedings and are entited to claim privilege against self-incrimination.
A ruling by a judge deciding a four-way contest to run a shareholder class action against AMP is expected this week, a judgment significant not just because it is the first time a court in Australia has been asked to choose among so many competing representative cases.
The High Court has granted ASIC special leave to appeal a judgment that let a former director of Gold Coast finance company MFS Group partially off the hook for $147.5 million in misappropriated funds, after ASIC argued the High Court should intervene to clarify the scope of the word “officer” under the Corporations Act.
The applicants in the Iluka Resources investor class action have just 14 days to sort out their funding troubles and provide a $1.25 million security, as a judge warns he will not be able to hold their trial date any longer.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission chair James Shipton has clarified the regulator’s “why not litigate” approach to enforcement, saying it does not mean “litigate first” or “litigate everything”.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has dropped its probe into Blue Sky over possible violations of its continuous disclosure obligations, but the fund manager still faces three active shareholder class action investigations.
The Bank of Queensland has criticised a judgment which found the bank’s insurance policy left it on the hook for a $6 million settlement of a class action brought by investors in a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme by jailed fraudster Bradley Sherwin.
Recycling company Sims Metal Management has responded to a shareholder class action ahead of a hearing on Tuesday, denying it breached its continuous disclosure obligations and partially placing the blame for any losses at the feet of group members.
The Quintis shareholder class action trial could be delayed for almost two years, while ASIC runs its civil proceedings case against the founder of the sandalwood oil production company.
A judge has approved funding terms in a shareholder class action against facility services company Spotless Group under which the funders will get no more than 25 percent of any net settlement or judgment.