Law firm seeks funding for class action

Turner Hopkins lawyer Andrew Hooker. Photo / APN

Auckland law firm Turner Hopkins is still collecting evidence for its planned class action against the trustee companies of some failed finance firms and hopes to have final funding approval for the lawsuit within a month or two.

The firm has been seeking expressions of interest from investors who lost about $8 billion after the collapse of several New Zealand finance companies between 2006 and 2009.

The class action 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 companies and protect investors.

Turner Hopkins, which has teamed up with Australian legal giant Slater and Gordon, is briefing experts and lining up witnesses.

"We've got a number of things on the go at the moment before we get the final nod for funding," said Turner Hopkins lawyer Andrew Hooker.

Several investors, representing well over 2000 investments, have registered their interest in taking part in the litigation.

Hooker has been down the track of claiming against financial advisers but "none of them have got any money".

"It's a matter of saying what other people could be culpable and, in my view, the people at the top of the list are the trustees.

"Quite a few so-called insiders have been in touch with us, so we are starting to talk with them about what went on in some of these trustee companies," Hooker said.