The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports that while the global financial crisis has claimed some high profile victims in Australia — ABC Learning, Allco Finance and Opes Prime, among other companies — shareholders are now hitting back with securities class actions totalling more than a billion dollars.
Angela Pearsall (pictured), a litigation partner at the law firm Blake Dawson, warns that class actions relating to misleading corporate behavior will mushroom in the new year, and companies need to be very careful in how they consider their disclosure obligations. She says that her firm is also advising its corporate clients to ensure that their insurance arrangements are suitable. “Given the credit crisis I think we’re likely to see more creative action on behalf of litigation funders and plaintiff lawyers in terms of who’s actually joined class actions,” she says.
The ABC report is also available as an audio podcast featuring several great Australian accents. Click on any of the links below to listen to the report.
