Roundup class action

Mr McNickle and Maurice Blackburn have reached a settlement agreement with the respondents that Mr McNickle will not appeal the judgment, and the respondents will not seek to recover any costs from Mr McNickle or Maurice Blackburn, nor appeal the costs judgment so as to seek to increase the amount of any potential costs payable.

This agreement means the following:

(1) there will be no appeal, and the judgment against Mr McNickle and group members will remain final;
(2) the respondents do not admit any liability and will not pay any amount nor provide any form of benefit to Mr McNickle or any group members;
(3) Mr McNickle and group members will release the respondents from the claims brought in the class action;
(4) Maurice Blackburn will not be required to pay any costs on Mr McNickle’s behalf (nor will Mr McNickle be required to pay any costs); and
(5) there is no prospect of Maurice Blackburn recovering any of the millions of dollars of costs that it incurred having run the proceeding on a “No Win, No Fee” basis.  For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in the agreement in any way detracts from the judgment of the Honourable Justice Lee on 25 July 2024.

Unfortunately, as the respondents have won the class action, group members will not get any compensation from this settlement.  

If you are a group member, you remain bound by the judgment of the Honourable Justice Lee on 25 July 2024, unless you opted out of the proceeding.  This is because nothing in the settlement agreement detracts in any way from that judgment. The Court-ordered deadline for opting out of the Roundup Class Action was 20 July 2021 and has passed. 

You are a group member if you:

(a)  Used or were exposed to Roundup Products within Australia between July 1976 and 19 October 2020; and

(b)  Have been diagnosed with NHL.

Alternatively, you are also a Group Member if you are:

(a)  An executor/administrator, beneficiary or a person with an interest in the estate of a deceased person who met the above criteria before they passed away; or

(b)  A dependent of a person who currently meets or previously met the above criteria.

Pursuant to the section 33E of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976, the consent of a person to be a group member in a class action is not required. Anyone who falls within the group definition is automatically included unless they opted out of the class action.  The Court-ordered deadline for opting out of the Roundup Class Action was 20 July 2021 and has passed.