Phi Finney McDonald acted for Group Members in the Federal Court of Australia class action against ASX-listed GetSwift Limited (GetSwift) and its managing director Joel Macdonald for continuous disclosure breaches and misleading and deceptive conduct.

The claim was on behalf of investors who acquired GetSwift securities between 24 February 2017 to 19 January 2018. The class action was funded by Therium Litigation Finance A IC.

SETTLEMENT APPROVED

Following commencement of the class action, GetSwift’s financial position declined significantly, and in July 2021, the parties reached an in-principle settlement of the class action providing for an upfront payment of $1.5m and subsequent payments to be paid and calculated on the basis of any recovery in GetSwift’s financial position.

On 29 July 2022, GetSwift entered into voluntary liquidation, and on 2 August 2022 its US parent company commenced a bankruptcy plan. On 2 February 2023, the Federal Court of Australia approved varied settlement terms pursuant to which GetSwift paid a reduced amount of $1m in total from the limited amount of assets still available to the company.

His Honour Justice Murphy stated in its judgment approving the settlement that the respondents had ‘embarked on a systematic program to pump up the GetSwift share price through misleadingly positive announcements to the ASX and the media’ and were ‘brought to financial collapse by their own misconduct and were not in a financial position to pay substantial damages’.

The distribution of settlement proceeds to participating group members is now complete.

Information about the details of the settlement, including the settlement structure, is also provided in the December 2022 and the November 2021 Notices to Group Members, which are available at the links below.

IMPORTANT EVENTS

  1. On 23 May 2018, the Court gave Phi Finney McDonald sole carriage of the class action, and permanently stayed two competing proceedings that had also been issued against GetSwift.
  2. On 7 February 2019, the Court ordered that Group Members who wished to opt out of the proceeding were required to do so by 28 March 2019 – please see the link to the February 2019 Notice to Group Members, below for further details.
  3. On 1 October 2019, the Court ordered that Group Members who wished to potentially benefit from any settlement reached at a mediation held in early 2020 were required to register their claims by 22 November 2019. This process is described as “class closure” – please see the link to the October 2019 Notice to Group Members below for further details.
  4. The case did not settle at the mediation held in early 2020. The “class closure” period described in the October 2019 Notice therefore expired, and the proceeding was once again an open class action brought on behalf of all Group Members that have not opted out – please see the link to the May 2020 Notice to Group Members below for further details.
  5. The case was listed to commence trial on 20 September 2021, however given the Proposed Settlement, the trial date was vacated.
  6. On 19 November 2021, the Court ordered that Group Members who wished to benefit from the Proposed Settlement must register their claims by 4 February 2022 (if they did not previously register during the Court ordered registration on or before 22 November 2019) – please see the link to the November 2021 Notice below for further details.
  7. On 29 July 2022, GetSwift entered into voluntary liquidation.
  8. On 2 August 2022, GTL commenced a bankruptcy plan in the United States.
  9. On 2 February 2023, Justice Murphy of the Federal Court of Australia made orders approving the settlement of the Proceeding.

NOTICES TO GROUP MEMBERS

PLEADINGS

SETTLEMENT APPROVAL JUDGMENT

SETTLEMENT APPROVAL ORDERS

SETTLEMENT DEED

SETTLEMENT DISTRIBUTION SCHEME

CONTACT US

If you have any queries, please contact us at getswiftclassaction@phifinneymcdonald.com.