Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Jayco Corporation Pty Ltd

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) brought proceedings against Jayco Corporation Pty Ltd (Jayco Corp) for alleged contraventions of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The dispute primarily concerns whether Jayco Corp engaged in unconscionable conduct, provided misleading or deceptive representations, and supplied goods that failed to meet statutory guarantees. The Federal Court was tasked with determining these issues.

The court was required to decide whether the recreational vehicles (RVs) supplied by Jayco Corp had manufacturing defects that constituted a major failure of the statutory guarantees under the ACL. This included examining whether the defects rendered the RVs unacceptable in quality, unfit for their advertised purpose, and not supplied as described. The court also had to assess whether Jayco Corp's conduct in handling the consumers' claims was unconscionable under the ACL, and whether any representations made by Jayco Corp were misleading or deceptive.

The court concluded that three out of four RVs had manufacturing defects that led to a failure to comply with a statutory guarantee, categorising it as a major failure. Consequently, three consumers were entitled to reject their RVs and obtain a refund or a replacement from the supplier. The court found one representation made by Jayco Corp to be misleading or deceptive, in contravention of sections 18 and 29(1)(m) of the ACL. However, the court did not find Jayco Corp's conduct to be unconscionable under section 21(1) of the ACL.

The court ordered that by 1 December 2020, the parties must submit a joint proposal, or separate proposals if necessary, for the further conduct of the proceeding, including questions of remedies, costs, and any other orders to give effect to the reasons. A case management hearing was scheduled for 4 December 2020.