Popular caravan YouTubers ordered to pay more than $1 million for ‘misleading representations’
A pair of ‘vanlife’ YouTubers have been ordered to pay more than $1 million to a caravan manufacturer after a dispute between the two parties began leaking into videos posted on the family’s public social media channels.
Jackson and Kyla Cartwright, known for their camping and road trip videos regularly posted on their popular YouTube channel, paid for a caravan to be built by Masterpiece Caravans Pty Ltd in April 2022.
The couple bought the camper in February 2023 before using it as a mobile home for about six months and posting it on social media.
The court ruling stated that a dispute began around August 2023 over allegations of “a number of serious defects” that the Cartwrights believed they found in the vehicle, but the company disputed this.
Ultimately, the two parties agreed that the family should return the caravan to Masterpiece Caravans, which would refund the $198,500 paid for the vehicle.
Part of the settlement agreement included the family returning the trailer “that day” and “not speaking negatively about the plaintiff, including on social media accounts.”
Despite this, the Cartwrights would release a video on February 4, 2024, titled “HOMELESS!! OUR CARAVAN IS GONE!! RAW 1-HOUR HOME VIDEO STYLE INTO OUR LIVES – DELIVERY OF OUR NEW HOME.”
According to District Court Judge Kevin Andronos, the video “conveyed testimony that the plaintiff forced the Cartwrights and their family to return the trailer with only a few hours’ notice, resulting in them becoming homeless.”
Published in late July of the same year and titled “WE NEED TO TALK… + LET’S GET TO KNOW US!” A second video titled, contained what the court found: “statements that the plaintiff made ‘catastrophically defective’ caravans and that the plaintiff was evil and/or prevented the defendants from telling the ‘full story’.”
Judge Andronos said both videos “had wide circulation in the relevant caravan market” and noted that “market reactions to the plaintiff and its product have changed since (the date the videos were published) and orders have decreased significantly since then”.
“I accept that the magnitude of the decline exceeds a general decline and that, on the evidence before me, this can only be explained by the defendants’ publication of the first and second videos,” he said.
“I am therefore satisfied that the defendants’ conduct…caused the plaintiff to suffer harm and harm as alleged.”
Ultimately, the Cartwrights never went to trial. The decision stated that Mr. Cartwright sent an e-mail to the court and the plaintiff in October 2025 and was told that their defense would be dropped on December 17 if they did not appear in court, but they did not do this.
The decision said: “It cannot be explained that the defendants did not come to the hearing and did not even acknowledge receipt of the correspondence sent to them.”
This resulted in a default judgment granted to the plaintiff on Wednesday.
Judge Andronos ordered the couple to pay $1,211,349 in damages to Masterpiece Caravans.
