McNickle v Huntsman Chemical Company Australia Pty Ltd (Costs) [2024] FCA 883

Federal Court of Australia

McNickle v Huntsman Chemical Company Australia Pty Ltd (Costs) [2024] FCA 883 File number: VID 243 of 2020

Judgment of: LEE J

Date of judgment: 31 July 2024

Catchwords: REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDINGS – costs – where applicant unsuccessful in initial trial concerning the alleged carcinogenic effects of Roundup produced by the Monsanto Company – relevance of ordinary principles as to costs in inter partes litigation to representative proceedings – Pt IVA of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) – inherent public dimension of class actions – mechanisms by which representative applicants are protected from adverse costs orders – observations as to conduct of the parties and facilitating the overarching purpose – relevance of public interest dimension of the proceeding – mixed private and public purpose to the litigation – where the respondents entitled to a form of costs order – orders made

Legislation: Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) Sch 2 Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) Pt IVA, ss 33ZF, 37P(2), 43 Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) rr 20.14, 30.01 Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) ss 56, 57, 58 Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic) ss 7, 8 Court Procedure Act 2004 (ACT) s 5A Court Procedures Rules 2006 (ACT) r 21 Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic) s 33ZDA Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2005 (Vic), r 1.14 Supreme Court Civil Rules 2006 (SA) r 3 Supreme Court Rules (NT) r 1.10 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld) r 5 Class Proceedings Act, SO 1992, c 6, s 31(1)