Queensland retirees who lost about $27 million when investment fund Wickham Securities collapsed two years ago could be months away from launching a class action.
It comes after Wickham's trustee company Sandhurst this week lost an appeal in the Federal Court, meaning they will be compelled to hand over financial documents to the firm representing burned investors.
Shine Lawyers intends on beginning a class action against Sandhurst on behalf of about 150 investors. They will allege Sandhurst breached the Corporations Act by not ensuring Wickham could repay its customers.
Sandhurst, which is owned by Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank, could theoretically block the release of the financial documents if they make an appeal to Australia's High Court and won.
"Sandhurst is considering the decision and otherwise does not comment on matters before the courts," a spokeswoman said.
Shine head of professional negligence Jan Saddler said Sandhurst's documents could show it did not fulfil its trustee obligations while overseeing Wickham.
Provided no High Court appeal was lodged, Ms Saddler said she expected to receive the files within a month.
"They could show Sandhurst made inquiries and didn't get proper responses and didn't do anything about following that up...Until we see the files it's pure speculation," she said.
Ms Saddler said the investors were deeply distressed that they had not received any compensation two years on from Wickham's collapse. Nearly all of them were from Queensland.
"There are times when they feel really depleted, exhausted and frustrated. They wonder if there will ever be a positive outcome. I'm very positive there will be," she said.
Shine had hoped to begin a class action in late 2014 after they had a win in the Federal Court, however that was delayed when Sandhurst lodged an appeal.
Liquidators PPB Advisory estimated last year that Wickham's creditors would receive about 5.7 cents for every dollar owed.
The extent of Wickham's financial mismanagement was revealed in court documents that showed the company's directors knew little about the state of the business.
There was also evidence that the company did not maintain proper records and financial documents were allegedly forged to inflate their bank balance by $10.5 million.
Some investors told of how Wickham chairman Brad Sherwin personally signed them up, bringing his along his mother to help with sales pitches.
In September 2013 Mr Sherwin was handed a 31-month ban from operating in financial services by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
