Christmas Day may have been a festive time for celebration in Australia but it was anything but at the headquarters of Hino Motors in Tokyo, after the Toyota controlled truck maker announced it had agreed to a settlement of $AUD 87 million to resolve the class action proceedings against it in Australia, related to historical misconduct claims involving falsification of emission and fuel consumption figures.
The company said the $87 million or 8.5 billion JPY would be recorded as a special loss in its financial results for the fiscal year 2025, and that it would aim to minimise prolonged litigation impact, and said that it viewed the settlement as “beneficial for its business and stakeholders”.
Hino originally announced that back in October 2022 class action proceedings had been filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria against the Company , while competing class action proceedings were filed against the Company a bit later in April 2023.
In both the first proceedings and the second proceedings, the plaintiffs claimed to have suffered losses due to Hino’s historical misconduct.
The Supreme Court of Victoria resolved a carriage dispute in favour of the solicitors engaged for the plaintiff in the second proceedings, and made orders back in December 2023 that the first poroceedings would be permanently stayed and that the second proceedings would proceed. The solicitors engaged for the plaintiff in the first proceedings lodged an application for leave to appeal this decision, but ultimately discontinued their application in July 2024.
Hino said it was currently analysing the impact of the settlement on its business and once the analysis is complete, it said it will make an announcement promptly, adding that the settlement involves no finding or admission of liability, Hino said it believes this resolution to be in the best interest of the company and its stakeholders.
