The Federal Court of Australia (Anderson J) has delivered judgment in The Owners – Strata Plan No 87231 v 3A Composites GmbH (No 10) [2026] FCA 351, in which Sam Adair appeared (lead by Nicholas Owens SC, now a Judge of the Federal Court, and instructed by Wesley Rose of Wotton Kearney Lawyers) for the successful second respondent, Halifax Vogel Group (HVG).

This was a funded class action concerning the supply and use of two aluminium composite products (ACPs) in the Australian building industry between 2009 and 2019. The applicants claimed that the ACPs did not comply with consumer law guarantees, and also advanced causes of action for misleading conduct in contravention of the Australian Consumer Law and predecessor legislation.

The Court dismissed both actions, rejecting the applicants’ claims that the ACPs were inherently unsafe due to pleaded “risks” and accepting the respondents’ contentions that any of the pleaded “risks” depended on the particular use of the product on any given building.

The case provides useful guidance on matters including the scope of consumer law guarantees, identification of the “reasonable consumer” in consumer guarantee claims, assessment of whether conduct is misleading or deceptive, causation and limitation periods for purposes of s 236(2) of the ACL.

See the full judgment here.