Maurice Blackburn wins right to take class action against AMP
Maurice Blackburn has beaten three other law firms for the right to run a shareholder class action against AMP.
Maurice Blackburn has beaten three other law firms to win a judicial beauty parade over the right to run a shareholder class action against AMP.
NSW Supreme Court judge Julie Ward said modelling showed that “on most scenarios, the net return for group members is likely to be the highest or around the highest” under Maurice Blackburn’s “no win, no fee” proposal.
Justice Ward also noted that Maurice Blackburn was prepared to offer security for AMP’s costs of defending the proceeding.
Maurice Blackburn’s head of class actions, Andrew Watson, said the firm was pleased with the result. “We look forward to getting on with the important job of obtaining a recovery for affected AMP shareholders,” he said.
Following AMP’s disastrous appearance at last year’s royal commission, five law firms — Maurice Blackburn, Slater & Gordon, Phi Finney McDonald and Shine Lawyers — filed class action lawsuits in two courts seeking compensation on behalf of shareholders wounded by the resulting share price tumble.
The thicket of lawsuits sparked an auction over commission rates charged by funders and a complex legal stoush across the Federal Court and NSW Supreme Court over which one should go forward and where it should be heard.
The number vying for the job was reduced to four when Slater & Gordon agreed to an effective merger of its proceeding with that run by Maurice Blackburn.
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