1 On 16 August 2016, Defence Health Limited was joined as an applicant.
Claims in respect of Green AA, Esperance AA+, Parkes AAA, Endeavour AAA, Federation AAA or Federation A+ are only brought in the Lifeplan Class Action and are hereinafter referred to as the "Lifeplan Non-Overlapping SCDOs".
4 The applicants and certain Group Members in the Mitsub Class Action and the MDA Class Action are represented by Squire Patton Boggs lawyers (SPB) and have entered into a Funding Agreement with Litigation Capital Partners LLP Pte Ltd (LCP) (Funded Group Members). As explained in Section E below, LCP will seek a funding commission from the proceeds of any claims by the applicants and Funded Group Members in the Mitsub Class Action and the MDA Class Action for taking the risk of funding them. If the matter settles at or shortly after Mediation, LCP will only seek a funding commission from the applicants in the Mitsub Class Action and the MDA Class Action and Funded Group Members.
5 The applicants in the Lifeplan Class Action are represented by Johnson Winter & Slattery (JWS) and have not entered into a funding agreement.
6 The Mitsub Class Action, MDA Class Action and Lifeplan Class Action are collectively referred to in this notice as the "Related Class Actions".
7 The SCDOs listed in the tables in paragraphs 1 to 3 above are collectively referred to in this notice as the "Claim SCDOs". A number of the Claim SCDOs were also the subject of Federal Court Proceeding No. NSD 656/2013 City of Swan & Anor v McGraw-Hill Financial, Inc & Ors (City of Swan Proceedings). Those proceedings have been resolved and are not the subject of this notice. If you were a group member in the City of Swan Proceedings you are not entitled to make a further claim in any of the Related Class Actions.
8 The parties in the Related Class Actions will participate in a mediation ordered by the Court to be held by no later than 9 December 2016 at which they will explore the possibility of a settlement of one or more of those Actions (Mediation).
9 The Court has ordered that this notice be sent to you because you have been identified as someone who may be a Group Member in one or more of the Related Class Actions and, as a result:
(a) you may be entitled to have your claims considered at the Mediation; and
(b) your rights may be affected by any settlement that is reached as a result of the Mediation.
10 If you purchased one or more of the Claim SCDOs and suffered loss or damage as a result, you should read this notice carefully.
11 The information in Section B of this notice will help you determine whether you are a Group Member.
12 This Notice has been sent to you by Carolyn Mitchell who is an independent third party retained to issue this Notice. Carolyn Mitchell is not otherwise involved in any of the Related Class Actions. Any questions you have concerning the matters contained in this notice should not be directed to Carolyn Mitchell or to the Court. If there is anything in it that you do not understand, you should seek legal advice (from a person other than Carolyn Mitchell).
13 If you are a Group member, you have three options:
Option 1 - Register to have your claims considered at the Mediation; or
Option 2 - Opt-out of any of the Related Class Actions; or
Option 3 - Do nothing.
Each of these options is explained in Section F of this notice.
B. ARE YOU A GROUP MEMBER?
14 In broad terms, the statements of claim in the Related Class Actions allege that the Applicants and Group Members suffered financial loss as a result of acquiring interests in one or more of the Claim SCDOs in reliance upon the credit rating allegedly assigned to each SCDO by Standard & Poor's because the ratings were not accurate, or appropriate, by reason of deficiencies in Standard & Poor's rating methodology, and Standard & Poor's lack of independence. You may be a Group Member in more than one of the Related Class Actions as explained further below.
Mitsub Group Member
15 You are currently a Group Member of the Mitsub Class Action if:
(a) during the period between 2005 and 2008, you acquired an interest in the Blue Gum AA- SCDO; and
(b) you acquired that interest in reliance upon the credit rating assigned by or on behalf of Standard & Poor's and have suffered loss or damage as a result; and
(c) you are not an applicant or group member in the City of Swan Proceedings.
16 The persons who satisfy all of the above criteria are called "Mitsub Group Members".
MDA Group Member
17 You are currently a Group Member of the MDA Class Action if:
(a) during the period between 2005 and 2008, you acquired an interest one or more of the following SCDOs - Blue Gum AA-, Torquay AA, Scarborough AA, Parkes AA- and Glenelg AA-; and
(b) you acquired that interest in reliance upon the credit rating assigned by or on behalf of Standard & Poor's and have suffered loss or damage as a result; and
(c) you are not an applicant or group member in the City of Swan Proceedings.
18 The persons who satisfy all of the above criteria are called "MDA Group Members".
Lifeplan Group Member
19 You are currently a Group Member of the Lifeplan Class Action if:
(a) during the period between 2005 and 2008, you acquired an interest in one or more of the following SCDOs - Green AA, Blue Gum AA-, Esperance AA+, Scarborough AA, Torquay AA, Parkes AAA, Parkes AA-, Endeavour AAA, Federation AAA and/or Federation A+ SCDOs; and
(b) you acquired that interest in reliance upon the credit rating assigned by or on behalf of Standard & Poor's and have suffered loss or damage as a result; and
(c) you are not an applicant or group member in the City of Swan Proceedings.
20 The persons who satisfy all of the above criteria are called "Lifeplan Group Members".
You may be a Group Member of more than one Related Class Action (Overlapping Group Member)
21 If you meet the definition of Group Member in relation to an interest acquired in the Blue Gum AA- SCDO, you will be an Overlapping Group Member in the Mitsub Class Action, the MDA Class Action and the Lifeplan Class Action.
22 If you meet the definition of Group Member in relation to an interest acquired in any one or more of the Torquay AA, Scarborough AA and Parkes AA- SCDOs, you will be an Overlapping Group Member in the MDA Class Action and the Lifeplan Class Action.
23 Important: If you are an Overlapping Group Member who wishes to participate in the Mediation you will need to register in respect of any Overlapping SCDOs. You may only register in one of the Related Class Actions in relation to the Overlapping SCDOs. Overlapping SCDOs are Blue Gum AA-, Torquay AA, Scarborough AA and Parkes AA-. In addition, if you also have other claims in respect of Non-Overlapping SCDOs, you will need to register your claims in respect of those SCDOs as follows:
(a) If you have a claim in respect of Green AA, Esperance AA+, Parkes AAA, Endeavour AAA, Federation AAA or Federation A+ (the Lifeplan Non-Overlapping SCDOs), you may only register in the Lifeplan Class Action in respect of those claims.
(b) If you have a claim in respect of Glenelg AA- (the MDA Non-Overlapping SCDO), you may only register in the MDA Class Action in respect of that claim.
(c) If you have claims in relation to both the Lifeplan Non-Overlapping SCDOs and the MDA Non-Overlapping SCDO, you will need to register in BOTH the Lifeplan Class Action and the MDA Class Action in respect of those products.
24 If you register in one or more of the Related Class Actions, for the purposes of the Mediation and any in-principle settlement reached at the Mediation (or within 28 days after that Mediation is terminated by the mediator) of the Related Class Actions in which you do not register in respect of your claims in relation to the Overlapping SCDOs, you will be deemed to have opted-out of the Related Class Actions in which you do not register in respect of your claims in relation to the Overlapping SCDOs. This means that if the Related Class Action in which you register in respect of any Overlapping SCDOs does not settle at or within 28 days of the Mediation, but another Related Class Action in respect of any of those Overlapping SCDOs does settle at or within 28 days of the Mediation, you shall not be permitted, without leave of the Court, to seek any benefit in respect of the Overlapping SCDOs from the other Related Class Action that does settle (with such settlement being approved by the Court). The amount of the losses that you claim for any Overlapping SCDOs will not be affected by the Related Class Action in which you elect to register in respect of the Overlapping SCDOs (if any). Further information as to how to exercise this choice is set out in Section F. If you do nothing, you will not be entitled to participate in any settlement reached at or shortly after the Mediation.
C. THE MEDIATION
25 The Mediation has been ordered by the Court and is scheduled to occur on 6 and 7 December 2016.
26 Your claims as a Group Member of the Related Class Actions will only be considered at the Mediation if you register in accordance with the registration requirements below (that is, you become a Registered Group Member).
27 Any settlement reached as a result of the Mediation must be approved by the Court as being in the interests of Group Members before it becomes effective.
D. WILL YOU BE LIABLE FOR LEGAL COSTS?
28 You will not become liable for any legal costs by registering to participate in the Mediation and remaining a Registered Group Member. However:
(a) if the preparation or finalisation of your personal claim requires work to be done in relation to issues that are specific to your claim, you can engage JWS, SPB or other lawyers to do that work for you. Details of the terms on which JWS are acting in the Lifeplan Class Action and SPB are acting in the Mitsub Class Action and MDA Class Action may be obtained by contacting JWS or SPB respectively (refer to Section G of this notice for contact details);
(b) if any compensation becomes payable to you as a result of any order, judgment or settlement in any of the Related Class Actions, the Court may make an order that some of that compensation be used to help pay a share of the costs (including legal costs) which are incurred by Mitsub, MDA or the Lifeplan Applicants in the running of the particular Related Class Action but which are not able to be recovered from the respondents, Standard & Poor's;
(c) if you are registered in the Mitsub or MDA Class Actions you may be able to enter into a litigation funding agreement to meet the costs of having relevant documentation for the Mediation prepared. Further information about this may be obtained from SPB; and
(d) class actions are often settled out of Court. If this occurs in any of the Related Class Actions, you may be able to claim from the settlement amount without retaining a lawyer.
E. LITIGATION FUNDING ARRANGEMENTS
Lifeplan Class Action - self-funded
29 The Lifeplan Applicants are presently funding the Lifeplan Class Action themselves and do not intend to enter into any litigation funding agreement with a third party funder before the Mediation. However, if the Mediation is unsuccessful the Lifeplan Applicants intend to proceed to trial and may consider litigation funding options in respect of their legal costs of the Lifeplan Class Action.
Mitsub Class Action and MDA Class Action - litigation funding
30 LCP is funding the Applicants in the Mitsub Class Action and the MDA Class Action (Mitsub and MDA Applicants) and the Funded Group Members. LCP is obliged to pay the Mitsub and MDA Applicants' costs of bringing and running the Mitsub Class Action and the MDA Class Action. The Mitsub and MDA Applicants and Funded Group Members have agreed to pay a commission to LCP if they receive any compensation as a result of any order, judgment or settlement in those proceedings.
31 If you are not a Funded Group Member and you register as a Group Member in either of the Mitsub or MDA Class Actions:
(a) you will remain a Group Member in the Mitsub or MDA Class Actions even if you do not enter into a litigation funding agreement with LCP and will not be required to pay any commission to LCP as a Group Member if the matter settles at or shortly after Mediation;
(b) if the Mitsub and MDA Class Actions settle at or shortly after the Mediation:
(i) the amount of compensation payable to you will not be reduced or otherwise affected by any sum in the nature of a commission or fee to LCP;
(ii) the Mitsub and MDA Applicants and LCP will not seek Court orders requiring all Group Members in the Mitsub and MDA Class Actions who have not entered into a litigation funding agreement with LCP to pay a portion of any compensation received by them to LCP equivalent to the amount they would have paid if they had entered into a litigation funding agreement with LCP nor any other amount in the nature of a commission or fee to LCP.
F. WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS?
32 If you do not consider that you are a Group Member in any of the Related Class Actions, you do not need to do anything. If you are unsure whether you are a Group Member in one or more of the Related Class Actions, you should seek legal advice before 11 November 2016.
33 If you consider that you are a Group Member in one or more of the Related Class Actions, you must choose one of following three options:
OPTION DEADLINE MORE INFORMATION
Register to have your claims considered at the Mediation 11 November 2016 Paragraphs 34 to 42 below
Opt out of one or more of the Related Class Actions 11 November 2016 Paragraphs 43 to 46 below
Do nothing N/A Paragraphs 47 and 48 below