Courts bicker over who should hear AMP class actions

Two of the nation’s top courts are at loggerheads over who should have the right to deal with class actions against AMP.

The NSW Supreme Court has made moves to take charge of the five class actions. Picture: Hollie Adams

Two of the nation’s top courts are at loggerheads over who should have the right to deal with five separate class actions against AMP.

The Federal Court yesterday raised the prospect of an urgent sitting of a Full Bench to counter moves by the NSW Supreme Court to take charge of the five class actions.

This was triggered by the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday to “invite” parties to four Federal Court class actions against AMP to transfer their claims to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court is already dealing with another class action against the financial services giant.

All five claims, which are being run by different law firms, have been lodged on behalf of AMP shareholders who are seeking compensation for losses they allege were caused by misleading and deceptive conduct that was revealed at the banking royal commission.

Both courts have now raised the prospect of issuing injunctions that might have the effect of hampering the ability of the parties to have the claims heard while increasing the legal costs that would need to be subtracted from any settlement that might be paid by AMP.

The dispute has emerged at a time when the growing cost to business of payouts in shareholder class actions has triggered a blowout in directors’ and officers insurance policies.

It also comes soon after the Australian Law Reform Commission and leading judges have been trying to formulate ways of streamlining this form of litigation.

Federal Court judge Michael Lee told a hearing in Sydney yesterday that the problem with the AMP class actions might “go away” if there was “an agreement between the parties”.

But if this did not happen there was “a spectre” of what he described as an “anti-anti suit” injunction in response to a threatened “anti-suit” injunction from the NSW Supreme Court.

Justice Lee ordered the parties to all four Federal Court claims to inform him by 4pm tomorrow if they will be applying for orders to preserve planned proceedings in that court.

AMP has filed an application with the Federal Court — to be heard on August 14 — that would have the effect of transferring the four Federal Court claims to the NSW Supreme Court.

Because Justice Lee will be dealing with the dispute tomorrow, there is now a prospect that the Full Federal Court could issue an injunction before the Supreme Court can issue an injunction of its own.

The Supreme Court’s Justice James Stevenson has given the parties to the four Federal Court claims until 5pm on Monday to accept his “invitation” to move their claims to his court.

If they failed to comply, the judge warned he would consider issuing an injunction restraining them from taking any further steps in the Federal Court other than transferring their claims to the Supreme Court.

Justice Stevenson’s judgment on Monday said: “Common sense should prevail.”

The class action in the NSW Supreme Court is being run by the firms Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan while the firms backing the Federal Court claims are Maurice Blackburn, Shine Lawyers, Phi Finney McDonald and Slater & Gordon.