Browse Federal Court Judgments

Corporations Law
PointsBet Holdings Limited, in the matter of PointsBet Holdings Limited [2025] FCA 463
CORPORATIONS – members’ scheme of arrangement – first court hearing – application for orders under s 411(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) to convene a meeting of members of the plaintiff – whether statutory prerequisites satisfied – whether the Court’s discretion should be exercised to convene the meeting – held: orders made to convene a meeting of members of the plaintiff.
BENNETT J - 8 May 2025

Corporations Law
Kanik, in the matter of ThinkRed Recruitment Central Pty Ltd v Swan Elope Pty Ltd [2025] FCA 462
CORPORATIONS – Winding up – Just and equitable grounds – Two-shareholder company – Deadlock between shareholders – Orders made winding up
WHEATLEY J - 9 May 2025

Taxation
Charles Apartments Pty Limited v Commissioner of Taxation [2025] FCA 461
TAXATION — Statutory construction - Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth) (ITAA 1997) – Appeal from Administrative Appeals Tribunal on a question of law, varying an objection decision in part – Whether the Tribunal correctly construed s 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 — Whether the Tribunal erred in not allowing an increase in the Applicant’s allowable deduction for interest for the same amount as the increase in the Applicant’s assessable income, described as ‘consequential step’ — Whether the Applicant limited its case before the Tribunal – Appeal dismissed. TAXATION — Statutory construction — ITAA 1997 – Whether the Tribunal correctly construed s 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 — Whether the Tribunal applied in error a “but for” test in construing s 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 rather than the nexus test – Cross-appeal allowed ADMINISTRATIVE LAW — procedural fairness – Whether the Tribunal failed to afford either party an opportunity to be heard — Whether the Tribunal failed to provide an opportunity to the Applicant to address an issue and whether that issue was an obvious or natural evaluation from the known material – Whether the Tribunal failed to provide the Commissioner with an opportunity to be heard on the “but For” test — Appeal dismissed — Cross-appeal allowed.
WHEATLEY J - 9 May 2025

Practice and Procedure
Deputy Commissioner of Taxation v Peever [2025] FCA 460
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE — Principle of open justice – Suppression or non-publication order – Where a non-party request was made by the media under r 2.32 of the Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) – Access was sought to submissions — Whether order necessary to prevent prejudice to the proper administration of justice — Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth), Part VAA, ss 37AE, 37AF, 37AG and 37AJ — non-publication order made, in part.
WHEATLEY J - 9 May 2025

Discovery
Zulic v CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty Ltd (No 3) [2025] FCA 464
DISCOVERY – representative proceedings – impugned practices concerning online trading of contracts for difference and binaries – application for further discovery orders – whether making further discovery orders will facilitate the just resolution of the proceeding as quickly, inexpensively and efficiently as possible – whether categories sought are relevant to pleaded issues – whether burden of compliance with discovery orders outweighs probative value of documents sought – discovery ordered in part
JACKMAN J - 9 May 2025

Administrative Law
Disability and Healthcare Support Pty Ltd v National Disability Insurance Agency [2025] FCA 465
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – Judicial review – Whether unreasonable delay CONSTITUTIONAL LAW – Constitutional writ – Mandamus PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Judgements and orders – Consent orders
MEAGHER J - 9 May 2025

Practice and Procedure
FZR24 v Commonwealth of Australia (No 1) [2025] FCA 450
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE — application for leave to join four additional parties to representative proceedings — unique procedural history — whether facts common to both additional parties and the claimants are sufficient for the purposes of ss 33C and 33H of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) — whether potential for multiplicity of proceedings is reduced by joinder of additional parties — application refused
O'SULLIVAN J - 6 May 2025

Practice and Procedure
SMBC Leasing and Finance, Inc v Flexirent Capital Pty Ltd (Discovery) [2025] FCA 459
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Application for discovery of documents alleged to be subject to legal privilege – whether sufficient evidence that documents satisfy dominant purpose test – whether the Court should inspect relevant documents or a sub-set thereof to determine privilege claim – principles of efficient case management. PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Discovery of documents said to underly opinions created as conditions precedent allegedly subject to a joint privilege – whether such a joint privilege arises – where agreement explicitly precludes the creation of a solicitor/client relationship – where parties are better characterised as counterparties to an agreement. PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Discovery of documents – where documents traversed in affidavits and exhibits are said to give rise to relevancy – whether underlying documents are relevant on the pleadings – consideration of Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) r 20.14 – requirement for direct relevance.
NEEDHAM J - 8 May 2025

Practice and Procedure
Wear v Montere E-College Pty Ltd [2025] FCA 434
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – application for default judgment under r 5.23 of the Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) – where the respondent has not participated in the proceeding or indicated any intention to defend claim – where applicant has sufficiently pleaded claim – application granted
RANGIAH J - 8 May 2025

Defamation
Mond v The Age Company Pty Limited [2025] FCA 442
DEFAMATION – publication of print and online newspaper articles – whether the print and online articles were defamatory – ordinary reasonable reader’s understanding of the articles – alternative Hore-Lacy meanings – some of the print and online articles were defamatory of the applicant – whether the fourth respondent was a publisher of the articles – the fourth respondent was a publisher – publication is not confined to composing or writing the defamatory matter – the process of publication – the serious harm element in s 10A of the Defamation Act 2005 (Vic) – whether the applicant established serious harm to reputation as a result of the defamatory publications – serious harm to reputation established – harm to reputation in an objectively important aspect of the applicant’s standing – extent of publication significant – whether the respondents established any defences to the publication of the matters – defences of common law and statutory justification – s 25 of the Defamation Act 2005 – defence of justification not made out – defences of honest opinion or fair comment – s 31 of the Defamation Act – defences of honest opinion and fair comment not made out – defence of public interest – s 29A of the Defamation Act – not reasonable to believe publication was in the public interest – defence of public interest not made out – assessment of damages – damages for non-economic loss under s 35 of the Defamation Act 2005 – whether increased damages on account of aggravating conduct should be assessed – absent a lack of justification or impropriety ordinary features of litigation do not sound in aggravation – no aggravated damages awarded PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – findings of defamatory meaning must be fairly within the pleadings – permissible variants of defamatory meaning within the pleadings – Court will not look for imputations outside of bounds of pleaded case
WHEELAHAN J - 8 May 2025

Industrial Law
Gillham v Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Pty Ltd [2025] FCA 458
INDUSTRIAL LAW – interlocutory application seeking summary dismissal of proceedings or strike out of statement of claim – whether characterisation of provisions of Victorian statute as a “workplace law” under s 11 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) suitable for determination on interlocutory application – interlocutory application dismissed
MORTIMER CJ - 8 May 2025

Corporations Law
Chopsonion Pty Ltd (Controllers Appointed) v Watts Meat Machinery Pty Ltd (No 3) [2025] FCA 457
INTEREST — contractual and prejudgment interest on primary loss found in Chopsonion Pty Ltd (Controllers Appointed) v Watts Meat Machinery Pty Ltd (No 2) [2025] FCA 4 — where issue concerning the amount of principal to which contractual interest is to be applied and over what periods — where issue concerning relevant interest rate in the circumstance where the mortgage is not paid out in full — where success in claims for which pre-judgment interest is claimed in accordance with s 51A of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) — part of principal financed by third parties — where third party finance re-financed — principal and interest on refinance recoverable as loss — judgment inclusive of interest entered in favour of applicants in varying amounts
O'SULLIVAN J - 7 May 2025

Insurance
Australian Securities and Investments Commission v HCF Life Insurance Company Pty Limited (Penalty) [2025] FCA 454
INSURANCE – pecuniary penalty order under s 12GBB of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth) (ASIC Act) for misleading the public as to the nature, characteristics and suitability of financial services – where no intention to engage in misleading conduct – where no evidence of consumer loss or damage – where risk of harm merely theoretical – where insurance products were presented as less desirable than they actually were – where defendant derived no financial benefit from contraventions – where legal advice was sought and did not raise possibility that clause may be misleading – consideration of what weight should be attributed to obtaining legal advice in determining a suitable penalty – weight will depend on all circumstances of the case including nature of contravention, nature of advice obtained and degree of certainty or qualification with which it is expressed – where misleading product disclosure statements remained available on website and defendant delayed providing corrective notices following Liability Judgment – specific deterrence largely achieved by declarations of contravention – general deterrence largely achieved by insurers now being on notice that contractual terms may mislead consumers if their operation is modified by or inconsistent with the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) – pecuniary penalty of $750,000 appropriate
JACKMAN J - 8 May 2025

Bankruptcy
Vines (Trustee), in the matter of the Bankrupt Estate of Mitchell v The Edge TC Pty Ltd (No 4) [2025] FCA 455
BANKRUPTCY AND INSOLVENCY - application by bankrupt for leave to be heard pursuant to rule 2.03(1) of the Federal Court (Bankruptcy) Rules 2016 (Cth) - no good reason shown - application dismissed with liberty to apply at later time
JACKSON J - 6 May 2025

Corporations Law
Zonia Holdings Pty Ltd v Commonwealth Bank of Australia Limited [2025] FCAFC 63
CORPORATIONS - continuous disclosure – whether the respondent (the Bank) breached its continuous disclosure obligations under s 674 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and rule 3.1 of the ASX Listing Rules – where, over a period of about three years (from November 2012 to September 2015), the Bank failed to provide approximately 53,000 threshold transaction reports (TTRs) to AUSTRAC as required by law – where the Bank subsequently lodged the TTRs in September 2015 – where the Bank did not disclose that failure to the market at any time up to 3 August 2017 – where, on 3 August 2017, AUSTRAC commenced a proceeding against the Bank about several matters including that failure – where the Bank’s share price then dropped substantially – where the primary judge decided that the Bank did not have awareness of certain aspects of the pleaded information at the times alleged – where the primary judge decided that the pleaded information was not complete and accurate – where the primary judge concluded that the pleaded information, if considered with contextual matters, was not material – where the primary judge decided that the applicants had not established causation or loss – whether the primary judge erred in reaching those conclusions
MURPHY, MOSHINSKY AND BUTTON JJ - 7 May 2025

Corporations Law
Marsden, in the matter of Brindabella Christian Education Limited (Administrators Appointed) [2025] FCA 456
CORPORATIONS – urgent application by administrators – whether prior and proposed conduct is justified – whether liability of administrators should be varied – whether member of proposed committee of inspection able to derive a profit or advantage from external administration – whether time for convening of second meeting of creditors be extended – application made under ss 90-15 and 80-55 of the Insolvency Practice Schedule Corporations (Corporations) and ss 447A(1) and 439A(6) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) – application allowed
DERRINGTON J - 31 Mar 2025

Practice and Procedure
Shield Holdings Australia Pty Ltd (in liq) v Binetter [2025] FCA 451
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – application for joinder of individual to proceeding – service of originating application and other documents outside the jurisdiction pursuant to r 10.42 and r 10.44 of the Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) (Rules) – application for substituted service upon first respondent and prospective second respondent pursuant to r 10.24 and/or r 10.49 of the Rules – orders made
HALLEY J - 7 May 2025

Administrative Law
Australian Epic Health Services Pty Ltd v National Disability Insurance Agency [2025] FCA 449
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – judicial review – application by registered National Disability Insurance Scheme provider pursuant to ss 5(1)(e) and (f) and 5(2)(g) of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) for an order of review in respect of the respondent’s decision to refuse claims for payments made by the applicant under s 45 of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth) (NDIS Act) – whether it was internally contradictory for the respondent to approve travel-related claims but reject associated support service claims – whether any internal inconsistency was legally unreasonable – whether it was legally unreasonable for the respondent to find information given by the applicant insufficient to substantiate claims for support services, particularly where applicant stated it was prepared to provide more information – application dismissed
HILL J - 7 May 2025

Practice and Procedure
Koulouris v Sourasis (Confidentiality Application) [2025] FCA 452
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – application by the first to fifth and seventh to thirteenth defendants for all documents on the Court file to be suppressed from disclosure or publication in their entirety – where the defendants have filed a defence – where the parties intend to proceed by mediation – where suppression and non-publication orders sought until conclusion of mediation – whether disclosure of documents might imperil mediation – whether suppression and non-publication orders necessary to prevent prejudice to the proper administration of justice – where matters sought to be protected already to some extent in the public domain – application dismissed
SARAH C DERRINGTON J - 2 May 2025

Migration
ADF17 v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs [2025] FCA 453
MIGRATION – application for an extension of time to file a notice of appeal from decision of Federal Circuit Court – where Federal Circuit Court dismissed application for judicial review of a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to affirm the decision of a delegate to refuse a protection visa – applicant failed to provide an acceptable explanation for failing to file notice of appeal within the prescribed period – applicant failed to demonstrate reasonably arguable grounds of appeal – application dismissed with costs
WIGNEY J - 23 Apr 2025