A senior court official has rebuffed efforts by Class Law, the legal firm, to get group action status for its claim on behalf of investors who lost money by investing in split capital investment trusts.

The application for a "group litigation order" was refused by a master at the High Court in London. GLOs are one means of bringing a single action on behalf on a number of claimants and have the advantage of making the administration of such claims simpler. Yesterday, the law firm said it would still pursue the claim but issue writs for 300 investors instead. Stephen Alexander, a partner in Class Law, the lawyers representing investors, said: "The master didn't accept there were enough common issues to grant a group action. That's disappointing. It means that there will be a huge number of writs issued in the High Court. We thought we were saving the court time and costs."