The Plaintiff has been conducting a class action in the Supreme Court of Victoria, on its own behalf and on behalf of “group members”, against the State of Victoria and certain other Defendants. The class action seeks compensation for certain retail businesses as a result of the “second wave” lockdown that occurred in Victoria from July to October 2020. The Plaintiff alleges that the lockdown was a result of negligence in relation to the hotel quarantine program. The Defendants deny the Plaintiff’s claims and any liability.

Are you a group member?

On 3 August 2026, the Court approved an amendment to the group member definition in this class action. Details of that amendment and the reasons for it can be found in the Court’s ruling: 5 Boroughs NY Pty Ltd v The State of Victoria & Ors (No 8) [2026] VSC 496 which may be found on the Austlii website at https://www.austlii.edu.au/. If you believe you would have been a group member under the previous group member definition, but are not a group member under the current group member definition, you should immediately seek legal advice regarding your rights.

In accordance with the Court’s ruling, you are a group member if you meet all three of the following criteria:

1. as at 1 July 2020, you operated a retail business that supplied goods or services to the public from physical premises located in Victoria;
2. members of the public acquired those goods or services by attending the physical premises of the business; and
3. as a result of the stage 3 and stage 4 restrictions in place in Melbourne and parts of regional Victoria between July and October 2020, your business was required to shut or operate at a reduced capacity and/or members of the public were restricted or prohibited from visiting your business premises and this caused your business to suffer financial loss.

The full group member definition appears at paragraph 1 of the Plaintiff’s Further Amended Statement of Claim, a copy of which is available at https://hotelquarantinesettlement.com.au/#section-7.

Proposed settlement of the class action

The Plaintiff and the Defendants have agreed to settle the class action. However, the Court must approve the proposed settlement for it to take effect. If the Court approves the proposed settlement, it will apply to all group members, except group members who have opted out. This means that group members will not be permitted to take any other legal action against the Defendants or associated State entities for the same or related circumstances to those that are subject of the class action.

Key terms of the proposed settlement include the following:

1. The State has agreed to pay the sum of $125 million to settle the claims of all group members in the class action (Settlement Sum). The settlement is without admission of liability by the Defendants.
2. The Plaintiff will seek the Court’s approval of the following deductions from the Settlement Sum:

   $37.5 million (30% of the Settlement Sum) in respect of legal costs; and $310,000 by way of reimbursement to the Plaintiff and certain group members who assisted in advancing the class action.

3. The balance of the Settlement Sum ($87.19 million) will be distributed to eligible group members pursuant to a settlement distribution scheme.
4. The Plaintiff proposes that not all group members will be eligible to receive compensation. Specifically, it is proposed that only the following group members will be eligible to receive compensation: those who registered a claim by 4.00 pm AEST on 8 July 2024 (Class Deadline); and those who registered a claim between 4.01 pm AEST on 8 July 2024 and 11.59 pm AEST on 11 March 2026, provided they can provide a reasonable explanation for why they did not register before the Class Deadline. Ultimately, it will be the Court, not the Plaintiff, who determines which group members will be permitted to participate in the proposed settlement.

The deadline to object to the proposed Settlement is by

4.00 pm AEST on 11 September 2026.

More information

Further details of the proposed settlement, including how you can object to the proposed settlement, can be found in the long-form notice of proposed settlement available on the website of Quinn Emanuel, the solicitors for the Plaintiff in the class action at https://hotelquarantinesettlement.com.au.