28,000 irrigators lose $1.5-billion class action against MDBA
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has won a long-running class action brought by 28,000 irrigators who argued its mismanagement caused lost profits and high water prices.
In a recent legal ruling, a group of 28,000 irrigators in Australia have been found to have lost a class action against the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) over $1.5-billion in damages. A judge in the New South Wales Supreme Court ruled that the MDBA had no duty of care to avoid economic loss to individual farmers. The plaintiffs were ordered to pay the MDBA's legal costs.
The dispute centered around river management and water allocations that led to lower profits for some farmers. The court found that the MDBA is responsible for implementing the water-sharing framework, but that a duty of care to avoid pure economic loss was not owed due to the independent nature of the MDBA's role.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
