Lawyers is investigating whether the insurer breached its continuous disclosure obligations for not informing the market sooner about its expectations of a $US250 million loss in full-year 2013.The insurer's share price fell by 30 per cent over two days in response.
The law firm has invited shareholders to register interest and says it will pursue a class action if it gains enough support.
The lawsuit comes two day after Belinda Hutchinson finished her tenure as chair of QBE, with Marty Becker beginning in that role for the group yesterday.
The initial announcement of Ms Hutchinson's departure was released to the market on December 9, the same day as the QBE statement forecasting the full-year loss that is the focus of the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, QBE has reaffirmed its full-year guidance, after swinging to a loss in 2013.
At the insurer's annual meeting this morning, QBE chief executive officer John Neal confirmed the group's premium guidance for 2014, saying it was retaining a target combined operating ratio of around 93 per cent.
QBE was still expecting an underlying insurance profit margin of around 10 per cent for 2014, he said.
The insurer said it was on track to deliver $250 million in operating cost savings by the end of 2015.
The board's policy to pay up to 50 per cent of cash profit in dividends was unchanged, Mr Becker said.
"A return to expected profit levels should see dividends increase," Mr Becker said.
"Of course, the performance of an insurance business will never be entirely predictable.
"However, there are actions we can take to ensure that the building blocks of our result are clearly articulated, and that the number of variables likely to introduce unexpected volatility is minimised."
In full-year 2013, QBE swung to a loss of $US254 million, prompting shareholders to consider a class action over its continuous disclosure obligations.