Boutique Melbourne law firm Phi Finney McDonald will lead the sole class action on behalf of aggrieved investors in logistics business GetSwift, after a Federal Court judge on Wednesday permanently stayed two other competing class actions.
The class actions and an Australian Securities and Investments Commission investigation of GetSwift were triggered by an investigation in The Australian Financial Review into the company’s market announcements and failure to disclose contract losses, which saw its share price plummet. The stock has lost 90 per cent from its high in December 2017 to trade at 43¢ on Wednesday.
In a judgment that could set a precedent for the five law firms currently fighting over which will run a class action against AMP, Justice Michael Lee found that Phi Finney McDonald – run by three former Slater & Gordon lawyers and partnered in this class action by funder Therium Australia – had a “clearly preferable” funding model over actions brought by Squire Patton Boggs and Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
“It has the advantage of producing a more direct correlation between the amount ventured and the likely return,” Justice Lee wrote in his 139-page judgment. Click here to read more on AFR.