Litigation funder Court House Capital backed World Touring Melbourne in the matter
The Victorian Court of Appeal has rejected Australian Grand Prix Corporation’s (AGPC) appeal of the 2024 Supreme Court ruling in AGPC’s case against World Touring Melbourne Limited.
The case involved the cancellation of pop star Robbie Williams’ Albert Park concert in March 2020. The concert was set to take place in association with the Formula One event being held in Melbourne; as reported by News.com.au, the Australian Grand Prix event was cancelled on March 13, 2020.
Williams was supposed to perform the next night, having been booked for $1.94m. World Touring Melbourne proceeded to file a suit against AGPC in 2022 seeking $7.594m in incurred costs and $1.128m in lost profits from the cancellation.
AGPC blamed the event’s cancellation on then-chief health officer Dr Brett Sutton, claiming that the cancellation was mandated. The Supreme Court ruled that the AGPC misrepresented this requirement, noting that no public health orders had been issued at the time; the established evidence indicated that the decision had lain with the AGPC organizers.
As a result, the Supreme Court ordered AGPC to pay $2.84m in damages to World Touring Melbourne on the grounds that AGPC engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and violated contractual obligations.
AGPC appealed the decision, saying that it had intended to cancel the concert before any misleading and deceptive conduct occurred. The appeals court noted that the case being argued on appeal differed from and was inconsistent with the trialled case.
Thus, appeals judges Kevin Lyons, Rowena Orr and Terry Forrest unanimously refused leave to appeal, upholding the Supreme Court’s judgment on the matter. The decision was issued on Monday 14 September.
Litigation funder Court House Capital began backing World Touring Melbourne before the proceedings were initiated. The funder continued to financially support World Touring Melbourne through the litigation, its trial before the Supreme Court and the now-dismissed appeal.
“Today's judgment is an outstanding result for World Touring Melbourne and a complete vindication of the position it has maintained throughout these proceedings”, said Heather Collins, chief investment officer at Court House Capital.
Arnold Bloch Leibler acted for AGPC, while Gadens represented World Touring Melbourne.
