The Lemon Fool

I received a letter in the post this morning from the Federal Court of Australia regarding 'BHP Class Action'.
Wondering if anyone else has received this letter.
I'm guessing you had to have a share certificate rather than be a nominee.

I thought here was probably the best place to post this as BHP is a typical HYP share and other people may have had this letter.
It seems if you owned BHP shares between 8 August 2012 and 9 November 2015 then you may be affected by this class action and receive a letter from the court!

It seems a group of people are suing BHP over failing to fulfill its obligations over the Fundao Dam in Brazil. Environmental catastrophe. Etc etc.
BHP investors are apparently "entitled to compensation" as we apparently paid more for our shares than we should have because of BHP's conduct.
News to me.

I have 3 options:
1. Register as part of the class action as a 'Group Member'.
2. Opt out.
3. Ignore - "be bound by the settlement but not be able to seek any benefit from it". I.e. Receive no compensation and not be able to sue BHP myself. Not that I was planning to.

It claims Group Members will not pay any costs in the event of... blah blah.

I want nothing to do with it....

Has anyone else had this? What do you plan to do?

I would not reply. Sounds like a scam - despite it’s apparent origin!
you only overpaid if you bought them then, not simply owned them between those dates.
and surely it’s usually the solicitors/lawyers who go about chasing custom in this way, not a court.

GrahamPlatt wrote:I would not reply. Sounds like a scam - despite it’s apparent origin!
you only overpaid if you bought them then, not simply owned them between those dates.
and surely it’s usually the solicitors/lawyers who go about chasing custom in this way, not a court.

That was my first thought - a set of ambulance chasing lawyers - but it looks official.
They actually sent paper documents half way round the world.

The email address for paperwork is vicreg@fedcourt.gov.au (gov.au address looks legit)and the postal address to send paperwork:
The Registrar
Federal Court of Australia
Victorian District Registry
305 WIlliam Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Which is (from a quick Google) correct.

The only way they could have found my details is from the shareholder register - which I assume they have got the court to hand over.


It does say though that 'Group Members' will not be liable for costs and only those initiating the action will be.
It's all very odd.

Here's a copy of the paperwork
[url]
https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/__data/asse ... 719486.pdf [/url]

It's not a scam.

BHP is certainly subjected to a £36 billion /AUD65 billion class action. It was before the High Court in London and Brazil not Melbourne but seem Australia's Federal Court is now handling it.

The Federal Court of Australia has ordered a claim registration deadline of Friday 4.00pm (AEDT) on 31 May 2024, in the BHP Class Action, known as Vince Impiombato, and Klemweb Nominees Pty Ltd as trustee for Klemweb Superannuation Fund v BHP Group Ltd (BHP Class Action).

All current and former shareholders who acquired an interest in fully-paid BHP Billiton Limited (BHP Ltd) and/or BHP Billiton Plc (BHP Plc) shares between 8 August 2012 to 9 November 2015 (inclusive), who wish to obtain compensation by participating in any settlement reached in the BHP Class Action before final judgment, should register their claim, at no “out of pocket” cost, by clicking the ‘register’ button and following the instructions to submit their registration.

https://www.bhpclassaction.com/

The number of 'claimants' registered a year ago was 700,000 but if settled seems enough cash to go around.

Maroochydore wrote:It's not a scam.

BHP is certainly subjected to a £36 billion /AUD65 billion class action. It was before the High Court in London and Brazil not Melbourne but seem Australia's Federal Court is now handling it.

The Federal Court of Australia has ordered a claim registration deadline of Friday 4.00pm (AEDT) on 31 May 2024, in the BHP Class Action, known as Vince Impiombato, and Klemweb Nominees Pty Ltd as trustee for Klemweb Superannuation Fund v BHP Group Ltd (BHP Class Action).

All current and former shareholders who acquired an interest in fully-paid BHP Billiton Limited (BHP Ltd) and/or BHP Billiton Plc (BHP Plc) shares between 8 August 2012 to 9 November 2015 (inclusive), who wish to obtain compensation by participating in any settlement reached in the BHP Class Action before final judgment, should register their claim, at no “out of pocket” cost, by clicking the ‘register’ button and following the instructions to submit their registration.

https://www.bhpclassaction.com/

The number of 'claimants' registered a year ago was 700,000 but if settled seems enough cash to go around.

It seems "doing nothing" is the default response.

All I'm bothered about is if this somehow comes back to bite me at some point. I don't know - shareholders end up liable for costs or something.

I can't imagine a situation where a lawyer can turn up to a court and get a judgment that says "every shareholder is in my club and is liable to payt me money unless they expressly tell me otherwise"! Even in Oz.

I missed this thread when it was first posted, but found it when I searched TLF for Class Action.

I got notified by HL yesterday that I could register. I purchased two tranches of BHP Billition shares during the relevant period. These were through a nominee, to address an earlier comment in the thread.

I'm guessing that there may be quite a number of other Foolish members who have recently also received emails from HL on the subject. I would be interested in their views.

I am minded to register - looking back, it certainly was one of the more dramatic rollercoaster investments I made.

I got notified by AJB 2 days ago

T7

I bought some shares in June 2015 through Halifax Sharedealing, I haven't heard anything yet.

I got a notification from AJ Bell last week informing me of the class action. Nothing in the post, but that's not surprising as I was a nominee shareholder. I bought BHP shares in 2014 and 2015, and so appear to be eligible to register.

As far as I can see this is a "no win, no fee" arrangement where the costs are paid out of any compensation that is awarded. There doesn't seem to be a downside to registering, so I intend to do so unless anyone can spot a good reason not to.