Having just finished The Litigators, an enjoyable legal thriller from American novelist John Grisham, it seemed rather apposite to get a call shortly afterwards from litigation specialist RGL.

The call was to update me on the progress of a High Court group claim that RGL has brought against FTSE100-listed wealth manager Hargreaves Lansdown for persuading many customers to buy investment fund Woodford Equity Income (WEI) ahead of its suspension in June 2019 – and subsequent break-up.

The claim is for the losses that investors suffered as a result of the investing platform continuing to recommend the fund, run by Neil Woodford, right up until the day of its suspension.

This is despite concerns within Hargreaves Lansdown that Woodford's fund was becoming increasingly illiquid as the manager was forced to jettison more liquid stocks to meet a rising tide of redemptions.

RGL's claim is also for the loss of the opportunity of investing in alternative funds that, in contrast to WEI, would have generated positive returns.

Since I last wrote on this claim just over a month ago, RGL has added a further 1,500 claimants to the group action, taking the total to 6,600. It expects that when the claim is served on the defendant in the next few months, it will be in excess of £200 million, with average claims of around £20,000, including interest. Big sums.

Anyone who invested in WEI via Hargreaves Lansdown can obtain details about joining the claim at woodfordlitigation.com – irrespective of whether they were still holding the fund when the shutters were abruptly drawn. RGL will levy no initial fees on those who agree to participate in the claim. Only if the claim is successful will it take a slice of the bounty. 

As the plot of novel The Litigators highlights, not all group actions are successful. But for many Woodford investors, RGL's claim remains the last chance for them to make good the losses they suffered from getting embroiled in its disastrous fund. So, if you're eligible, join.

As for Mr Woodford, the City's regulator seems no closer to taking any action against him for running his fund into the ground and leaving investors with huge losses.

As the former fund manager intimated in a self-serving YouTube video last month (far more cringy on the eye than even the awful new Nicole Kidman romp Babygirl), it could be a while before the Financial Conduct Authority takes any action against him.

Indeed, given the Chancellor of the Exchequer's determination to shake up the regulators, Mr Woodford may well survive the FCA.

For the record, Mr Woodford's latest view on markets is that China is a raging 'buy'.

I wouldn't buy it for love nor money.  

• woodfordlitigation.com 

Saba gets short shrift 

Three cheers to the shareholders of investment trust Herald (I'm one of them) for telling US hedge fund manager Saba what they thought of its proposal to take control of the £1.2 billion fund, run with aplomb for nigh on 31 years by Katie Potts.

To use a somewhat vulgar term that my late mother used frequently, investors said: 'B***er off.'

Last Wednesday, they voted overwhelmingly against all the proposals put forward by Saba at a general meeting that it had requested (in a nutshell, proposals to sack the board and replace them with their own stooges ahead of seizing control of the fund).

It means that Herald can now carry on doing what it does best – extracting investment returns from a global portfolio of tech, media, and telecoms smaller companies. Yet Saba, run by New York financier Boaz Weinstein, isn't finished yet.

Next month, it will try the same trick on six other investment trusts, starting with shareholder votes at Baillie Gifford US Growth and Keystone Positive Change on Monday week, followed by CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income and Henderson Opportunities a day later.

Votes at European Smaller Companies and Edinburgh Worldwide will follow on February 5 and 14 respectively.

To private shareholders in these six trusts, vote against every proposal put forward by Saba. It is nothing but an asset stripper.

Happy 250th birthday to building societies 

Buliding societies are a force for good in this country – and on Tuesday the industry will mark its 250th anniversary with an informal gathering at the celebrated Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub in London.

Deadlines permitted, I will be there to mark the occasion and listen to social historian Professor Carl Chinn talk about how building societies helped lay the foundation stones of the home-owning country we have now become. As a Brummie (as is Carl), I'm proud that the first society (Ketley's) was established at the Golden Cross inn in Birmingham.

Although building societies, in terms of numbers, are a shadow of what they once were – 42 remain, compared to 382 half a century ago – they still do a lot of things right.

Most are customer focused and unlike the big banks continue to support the High Street. According to its trade organisation, the Building Societies Association (BSA), societies now account for 30 per cent of all High Street branches run either by them or the banks, compared to 14 per cent in 2012.

Although this is more a reflection of the slash and burn branch strategy adopted by the big banks, Nationwide (by far the industry's biggest player) has nailed its colours firmly to the High Street until at least 2028.

Smaller societies also play their part in community banking by having branches in towns that the big banks have deserted. The BSA says there are 142 towns in England and Wales that are only served by a building society. Among them is my hometown of Wokingham, Berkshire, where just Nationwide, fellow society Newbury and a somewhat shambolic post office at the back of WH Smith now support a rather fragile High Street. Both the former Barclays and Lloyds branches remain empty and scar the town. Shame on them.

While some building societies have hardly covered themselves in glory over their tardy handling of compensation relating to the collapse of trust fund firm Philips Trust Corporation (an organisation which some society customers ended up with after a conversation in a branch), it's a rare blemish.

We need building societies on our High Streets.

Remembering David Holmes 

Talking of building societies, one of its best communicators in the 30 odd years that I have been following them was David Holmes.

He worked for Bradford-based Yorkshire and sadly died earlier this month after a long battle with Parkinson's. He was 75. David was passionate about the Yorkshire and its commitment to doing the right thing by the customer. In many ways, in the 1990s and early 2000s, he helped put the society on the map by going out and waving its flag. He was more of an ambassador for the mutual than its chief executives and more of a flag waver for the industry than the BSA.

On more than one occasion, I missed my last train home as a result of chewing the (building society) cud with David over a meal washed down with a decent bottle of wine and a glass or two of brandy.

On Tuesday, at the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, I'll raise a glass to David. He'd like that very much.