The Federal Court approved the entire $13.5 million settlement figure agreed between The Good Guys and ACCC after earlier flagging that the retail giant may be entitled to a “significant reduction”.
On Monday (8 September) afternoon, Justice Michael O’Bryan approved The Good Guys’ $13,500,000 settlement for breaches of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 in relation to misleading Store Credit and StoreCash promotions.
This was in addition to $200,000 in costs, a redress program, and the voluntary remediation already paid to some consumers.
The Good Guys estimated the total dollar value of the consumer redress program would be approximately $13,300,000.
The major retailer admitted advertisements for the Store Credit promotions failed to disclose that the offer was subject to a condition that consumers would only receive the credit if they remained opted-in to marketing communications until it was dispatched.
The Good Guys also admitted a failure to disclose there were specific expiry time frames for both promotions and a failure to provide credit to approximately 21,500 consumers within those time frames.
“While the total number of advertisements published in the relevant promotions period and the number of consumers who viewed the advertisements is not known to the parties, the advertising campaigns for the promotions are likely to have been viewed by millions of consumers,” Justice O’Bryan said.
During an August hearing of the matter, Justice O’Bryan flagged the possibility of a “significant reduction” to the settlement given that The Good Guys acted promptly and engaged in its own voluntary redress.
At the time, Justice O’Bryan said he was concerned with whether there was a “reasonable relationship” between the harm done to consumers, the benefit to The Good Guys, and the total monetary penalty.
“I think the court is always looking to understand the penalty and the harms to consumers … and ensure that the task of deterrence is served without being oppressive as well,” Justice O’Bryan said.
In the judgment, Justice O’Bryan again noted that The Good Guys cooperated with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), engaged in settlement discussions prior to the commencement of the proceedings, and voluntarily provided material.
Justice O’Bryan accepted the parties submission that meaningful cooperation “is to be encouraged and warrants recognition in the scale of the penalties to be imposed”, particularly as it represented acceptance of the “wrongdoing, contrition and preparedness to resolve the proceedings in the way most conducive”.
“The proposed penalties in this case make allowance for The Good Guys’ cooperation,” Justice O’Bryan said.
The case: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v The Good Guys Discount Warehouses (Australia) Pty Ltd [2025] FCA 1085.
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
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