BHP Group Limited v Impiombato [2022] HCA 33

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

KIEFEL CJ,

GAGELER, GORDON, EDELMAN AND STEWARD JJ

BHP GROUP LIMITED APPELLANT

AND

VINCE IMPIOMBATO & ANOR RESPONDENTS

BHP Group Limited v Impiombato

[2022] HCA 33

Date of Hearing: 9 August 2022

Date of Judgment: 12 October 2022

M12/2022

ORDER

Appeal dismissed with costs.

On appeal from the Federal Court of Australia

Representation

W A Harris QC with J E Moir for the appellant (instructed by Herbert Smith Freehills)

J T Gleeson SC with A D Pound SC and E Levine for the respondents (instructed by Phi Finney McDonald and Maurice Blackburn Lawyers)

Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.

CATCHWORDS

BHP Group Ltd v Impiombato

Statutes – Interpretation – Territorial operation – Presumption against extraterritoriality – Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth), s 21(1)(b) – Where Pt IVA of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) permitted a person to commence a representative proceeding in the Federal Court of Australia on behalf of other persons ("group members") where certain statutory criteria were met – Where Pt IVA did not contain any express geographic or territorial restriction on the identity of persons who could be group members – Whether Pt IVA allowed claims to be brought on behalf of group members not resident in Australia.

Words and phrases – "central focus", "claims", "class action", "federal jurisdiction", "hinge", "in and of the Commonwealth", "matter", "object of legislative concern", "personal jurisdiction", "presumption", "presumption against extraterritoriality", "representative proceedings", "statutory construction", "statutory interpretation", "statutory presumption", "subject matter jurisdiction", "territorial connection", "territorial jurisdiction", "territorial restriction".