[4][5] A class action was lodged in May 2018 in the Federal Court[6] under Part IVA of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 by people who contracted to acquire an interest in fully paid-up ordinary shares in BHP through various international stock exchanges.

The members of the class action alleged that they suffered loss due to BHP's contravention of continuous disclosure obligations as set out by the Australian Securities Exchange Listing Rules and the Corporations Act 2001.

[7] BHP applied and was granted special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia.

[8] In the published reasons, the Court asked why "If a person in the pool can become a representative party irrespective of their place of residence, as BHP accepts, why can a person in the pool become a group member only if resident in Australia?".

BHP's argument that section 21(1)(b) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 and the common law presumption against extraterritoriality should both be applied to this case so that Part IVA must be interpreted as not permitting group members who are not resident in Australia was unanimously rejected.