Cantor v Audi Australia Pty Limited (No 5)

• Jurisdiction: Australia Federal only
• Judge: FOSTER J
• Judgment Date: 01 April 2020
• Neutral Citation: [2020] FCA 637
• Date: 01 April 2020
• Court: Federal Court

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Cantor v Audi Australia Pty Limited (No 5) [2020] FCA 637

File numbers:	NSD 1307 of 2015NSD 1308 of 2015NSD 1459 of 2015NSD 1472 of 2015NSD 1473 of 2015
Judge:	FOSTER J
Date of Orders:	1 April 2020
Date of publication of Reasons:	13 May 2020
Catchwords:	CONSUMER LAW – representative proceedings – whether the Court should approve the settlement of five class actions brought under Pt IVA of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) in which Australian purchasers of Volkswagen-branded, Audi-branded and Skoda-branded diesel-powered motor vehicles sued for (inter alia) compensation for loss and damage allegedly suffered by them as a consequence of the respondents (Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft and certain of its related corporations) installing illegal sophisticated two-mode software in the engines of such vehicles designed to circumvent Australian emissions standards in respect of NOx – whether, in addition, the Court should make a common fund order either at the instigation of the litigation funder of two of those class actions or at the instigation of the applicants in those two class actions – whether, in the event that the Court declines to make any common fund order, the Court should make a funding equalisation order in respect of percentage commission payments and project management fees which a small number of group members in the classes specified in two of those class actions agreed to make to that litigation funder
Legislation:	Australian Consumer Law, ss 18, 29(1), 54(1) and 106(1) Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 165, 166, 173 and 183 Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), Sch 2 Evidence Act 1995 (Cth), s 135 Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth), ss 17, 20(1A), 23, 33C, 33M, 33N, 33V, 33Z, 33ZB, 33ZF, 37AF and 37AG Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1989 (Cth), ss 5, 7, 10A, 14 and 18 Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth), ss 52, 53(a), 53(c), 65C(1) and 74D Federal Court Rules 2011, r 9.05 Australian Design Rule 79—Emission Control for Light Vehicles United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Regulation 83, Uniform Provisions Concerning the Approval of Vehicles with Regard to the Emission of Pollutants According to Engine Fuel Requirements 18 U.S.C. §371 18 U.S.C. §542 18 U.S.C. §1343 18 U.S.C. §1512(c) 42 U.S.C. §7413(c)(2)(A)
Cases cited:	Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft [2019] FCA 2166 Andrews v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited [2019] FCA 2216 Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Cascade Coal Pty Ltd (No 4) [2018] FCA 1243 Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Richards [2013] FCAFC 89 Blairgowrie Trading Ltd v Allco Finance Group Ltd (In Liq) (2015) 325 ALR 539 Blairgowrie Trading Ltd v Allco Finance Group Ltd (Receivers and Managers Appointed (In Liq) (No 3) (2017) 343 ALR 476 BMW Australia Ltd v Brewster (2019) 366 ALR 171 BMW Australia Ltd v Brewster (2019) 374 ALR 627 Camilleri v The Trust Company (Nominees) Limited [2015] FCA 1468 Caason Investments Pty Ltd v International Litigation Partners No 3 Ltd (2018) 265 FCR 487 Central Railroad & Banking Co of Georgia v Pettus 113 U.S. 116 (1885) Clime Capital Limited v UGL Pty Limited [2020] FCA 66 Clime Capital Limited v UGL Pty Limited (No 2) [2020] FCA 257 Crossley and Ors v Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft and Ors [2020] EWHC 783 (QB) Evans v Davantage Group Pty Ltd (No 2) [2020] FCA 473 Farey v National Australia Bank Ltd [2014] FCA 1242 Fisher (Trustee for the Tramik Super Fund Trust) v Vocus Group Limited (No 2) [2020] FCA 579 Haselhurst v Toyota Motor Corporation Australia Ltd (t/as Toyota Australia) [2020] NSWCA 66 Inabu Pty Ltd as trustee for the Alidas Superannuation Fund v CIMIC Group Limited [2020] FCA 510 Kelly v Willmott Forests Limited (In Liq) (No 4) (2016) 335 ALR 439 Lenthall v Westpac Banking Corporation (No 2) [2020] FCA 423 Lifeplan Australia Friendly Society Limited v S&P Global Inc [2018] FCA 379 McKay Super Solutions Pty Ltd (Trustee) v Bellamy’s Australia Ltd (No 3) [2020] FCA 461 McKenzie v Cash Converters International Ltd (No 3) [2019] FCA 10 McMullin v ICI Australia Operations Pty Ltd (1998) 84 FCR 1 Modtech Engineering Pty Ltd v GPT Management Holdings Ltd [2013] FCA 626 Money Max Int Pty Ltd v QBE Insurance Group Ltd (2016) 245 FCR 191 National Bolivian Navigation Company v Wilson (1880) 5 App Cas 176 Pathway Investments Pty Ltd v National Australia Bank Ltd (No 3) [2012] VSC 625 Pearson v State of Queensland (No 2) [2020] FCA 619 Rushleigh Services Pty Ltd v Forge Group Limited (In Liq) (Receivers and Managers Appointed) [2019] FCA 2113 Trustees v Greenough 105 U.S. 527 (1881) Westpac Banking Corporation v Lenthall (2019) 265 FCR 21
Date of hearing:	26 March 2020
Date of last submissions:	31 March 2020
Registry:	New South Wales
Division:	General Division
National Practice Area:	Commercial and Corporations
Sub-area:	Regulator and Consumer Protection
Category:	Catchwords
Number of paragraphs:	476
Counsel for the Applicants in NSD 1307 of 2015 and NSD 1308 of 2015:	Dr P Cashman and Mr R White
Solicitor for the Applicants in NSD 1307 of 2015 and NSD 1308 of 2015:	Bannister Law
Counsel for the Applicants in NSD 1459 of 2015, NSD 1472 of 2015 and NSD 1473 of 2015:	Mr CA Moore SC, Mr AM Hochroth and Ms J Taylor
Solicitor for the Applicants in NSD 1459 of 2015, NSD 1472 of 2015 and NSD 1473 of 2015:	Maurice Blackburn Lawyers
Counsel for the Respondents in NSD 1307 of 2015, NSD 1308 of 2015, NSD 1459 of 2015, NSD 1472 of 2015 and NSD 1473 of 2015:	Mr G Rich SC and Mr IJM Ahmed

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