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Rivals of Maurice Blackburn’s AMP shareholder class action have issued statements responding to the NSW Supreme Court’s decision to let the plaintiff firm lead the claim against the financial giant.
Last week NSW Supreme Court Chief Judge in Equity, the Honourable Justice Julie Ward named the Maurice Blackburn as the firm to lead the hotly-contested shareholder class against AMP, dismissing all other claims put forward by competitor firms, such as Shine Lawyers, Phi Finney McDonald, Quinn Emanuel and Burford Capital.
“It will not lead to the best outcome for shareholders in this case and will be very adverse to competition developing in the market.
“We are looking at all our options as we consider the judgment in detail so we can continue to press for world-class shareholder relief to become available in Australia.”
Meanwhile, Vicky Antzoulatos, Shine Lawyers’ special counsel, class actions, said her firm “acknowledges the court’s decision to give carriage of this class action to Maurice Blackburn and is reviewing the decision carefully”.
“Ultimately, all parties had a shared goal to pursue justice for the thousands of aggrieved shareholders who have suffered losses as a result of AMP’s conduct as disclosed in the hearings of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry,” Ms Antzoulatos added.
“The court’s decision will now bring some certainty in the pursuit of justice, and in particular financial restitution, for those aggrieved shareholders.”
In handing down her decision Justice Ward noted it was Maurice Blackburn’s approach to the class action, whereby it would conduct the class action on a “no win, no fee” basis, that gave it the edge over competitors.
“We are pleased that the court accepted that Maurice Blackburn’s funding model could help deliver the best returns to group member,” said Andrew Watson, national head of class actions at Maurice Blackburn.
“We look forward to getting on with the important job of obtaining a recovery for affected AMP shareholders.”
AMP also issued a statement welcoming the NSW Supreme Court’s decision to permit only one shareholder class action proceeding to continue against AMP.
“We believe this approach provides the most efficient process and greater certainty for all involved,” a spokesperson for AMP said.
“AMP will continue to vigorously defend the class action proceeding. AMP denies the allegation that it had information that was required to be disclosed to the market regarding ‘fees for no service’ and AMP’s interactions with ASIC (including in respect of the Clayton Utz report).
“The selected class action has been ordered to pay $5 million in security for AMP’s costs.”
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Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
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