Lemon caravan campaigner wins Bruder appeal

In the latest and perhaps final move in a see-saw legal battle, the Queensland Supreme Court has upheld a second appeal by Tracy Leigh, the publisher of the consumer action website ‘Lemon Caravans & RVs in Aus’ against an earlier ruling in favour of Queensland RV manufacturer Bruder over material it published supporting a dissatisfied Bruder customer

In April 2018, Charlie Coles bought an EXP-6 offroad caravan from Bruder and subsequently became a dissatisfied customer.

After some communications with Bruder in April 2019, Coles established a website on which he aired his grievances and these were subsequently repeated on the Lemon Caravans Facebook page in May that year.

In December last year, Ms Leigh was found guilty of contempt of court for breaching a judge's permanent injunction banning her from posting about Bruder and in February this year, Bruder won a court judgement requiring her, as an administrator of the 51,000-member ‘Lemon’ Facebook group, to pay $357,000 in damages to the Brisbane-based off-road caravan maker.

In its appeal judgement, handed down earlier this week, overturning that judgement, the court ordered that  Bruder was liable to pay Lemon Caravans’ costs of both the original trial and the appeal.

Leigh announced the legal 'win' on her controversial Lemon Caravans Facebook site, telling her 50,000-plus online followers that her "nightmare is over".

"Thank-you to every one of you and my legal team who believed in me and believed in justice. The truth shall always prevail. Never surrender," she said.

Ms Leigh also said that she had been "vindicated by the Court of Appeal decision. I am not a liar, I am not malicious and I did not cause Bruder Expedition financial damage".

"A significant precedent has been created that clarifies the high burden of proof for an injurious falsehood claim to succeed," she said. "It has been clarified that we can all have an opinion and publish it, as long as there is no malicious intent. This is a game-changer for consumers everywhere writing reviews. Freedom of opinion and expression has been upheld.”

Bruder also put out a statement: "At Bruder we have and always will look after our clients. We work tirelessly to manufacture Australian products built to the very highest global standards. Bruder welcomes and respects the findings of the Queensland Court of Appeal, which confirm that the statements made about Bruder and its products were indeed false."

The Supreme Court judgement is the latest in a number of drawn out legal proceedings involving Leigh, who in recent years has campaigned for the expansion of 'lemon laws' as well as been an advocate for victims of dodgy caravan manufacturers and dealers.

A full copy of the judgement can be found here.