New Zealand law firm Turner Hopkins, in conjunction with Australian law firm Slater Gordon, while not promising to return investors funds in collapsed finance companies, is however going to pursue some sort of justice by taking a class action suit against trustees of these finance companies, trustees whose job it was to keep a watchful eye on the day to day business activities of the directors and CEOs of these disgraced finance companies.
The trustees in finance companies such as Hanover, Capital & Merchant, Bridgecorp, Nathans and the like were trusted to have investors interests at heart first and that meant any irregularities would have to be looked at and investigated if need be. The majority of these trustees failed to adequately acquit themselves of their positions and in the absence of justice from the directors and CEOS of finance companies the trustees are the ideal candidates to now apply some heat to.
The following detail from the Turner Hopkins website explains in detail who is eligible to register to become part of the class action against these failed trustees. There will be no funds to pay to register or be part of the suit. I have no idea how it will be funded but it will and I am assuming that the respective law firms will be taking their cut at the end of a successful prosecution and so they should as it is admirable what they are trying to achieve.
Please see below for the detail of the class action suit and how to register to become part of it.
These claims will be in the form of representative proceedings on behalf of large groups of investors in one or more of the failed finance companies. The claims are expected to allege a breach of trust on the part of the corporate trustees appointed to monitor and supervise the activities of the failed finance companies and protect investors. Investors may well be entitled to recover economic losses incurred by them as a result.
Slater & Gordon are Australasia’s largest law practice and have decades of experience in class action and representative claims of this nature. They bring invaluable experience and expertise to this type of litigation. In particular Slater & Gordon have recently commenced a claim on behalf of investors against trustees of a failed finance company in Queensland and achieved an outstanding result for the investors.
Turner Hopkins has been working alongside Slater & Gordon for the past 12 months in analysing these potential claims. Being a specialist boutique practice situated in Auckland, Turner Hopkins’ partnership with Slater & Gordon provides the ideal mix of specialisation and experience to perform for the best interests of investors in a claim of this nature.
In addition we have secured the services and assistance of a highly experienced and skilled team of experts including one of Auckland’s most senior and well regarded Queen’s Counsel and accounting and financial specialists.
Funded Litigation
It is anticipated that the costs of bringing these claims will be met through litigation funding. This would mean that investors would not be required to make any payment at all for bringing this case. Nor would investors be exposed to any risk of adverse costs or other awards against them should the claim be unsuccessful. Funding arrangements of this type are relatively novel in New Zealand. We expect details of the funding arrangement to be available shortly.
Registration
We are currently seeking expressions of interest from investors who have sustained losses following the collapse of any of the New Zealand finance companies during the period between 2006 to 2009. If you were an investor and have lost money in one of those companies (regardless of whether it is now in liquidation, receivership or moratorium) we would be very pleased to receive your registration.
Registration will entitle you to receive directly from us regular updates on progress towards commencing these claims as well as information specifically relevant to the finance company/corporate trustee claim that may be available in your particular circumstances. We will also provide updates as to arrangements being made as to litigation funding arrangements that are being made. We look forward to hearing from you.
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