Australian YouTubers and viral vanlifers, Kyla and Jackson Cartwright, have been ordered to pay more than $1 million in damages to a caravan manufacturer for “misleading representations”.
Kayla and Jackson, who have more than 129k subscribers on their YouTube channel, The Cartwrights, have been ordered to pay $1,211,349 in damages to Masterpiece Caravans after posting two videos that were considered to be misleading representations of the manufacturer.
According to news.com.au, the YouTube couple paid for a caravan built by Masterpiece back in April 2022.
The following year, in February, the family received the final product and used it as a mobile home for six months while featuring it in their videos, which consist of camping, travel and tips about vanlifing.
However, legal tensions began in August 2023 after the Cartwrights alleged they found “a number of serious defects” in the caravan, which Masterpiece Caravan disputed. To resolve the matter, the vanlifers and the manufacturer came to an agreement that they would return the product to Masterpiece Caravans, who would also return the $198,500 payment for the vehicle.
Per the publication, the settlement agreement included a note that the YouTubers would return the mobile home “that day” and “not (talk) negatively about the plaintiff, including on their social media accounts”.
However, according to news.com.au, a video shared on February 4, 2024, titled “HOMELESS!! OUR CARAVAN’S GONE!! RAW 1HR HOME VIDEO STYLE into OUR LIFE —DELIVERY of our NEW HOME” was shared on The Cartwights’ channel.
District Court Judge Kevin Andronos claimed the video “conveyed representations that the plaintiff had forced the Cartwrights and their family to return the caravan with only a few hours’ notice, which caused them to be homeless”.
In a second video titled “WE NEED to TALK … + GET to KNOW US!”, posted in July of the same year, the court found it featured “representations that the plaintiff makes caravans with ‘catastrophic defects’ and that the plaintiff is evil and/or preventing the defendants from telling the ‘full story’”.
Reflecting on the video and the agreement, Judge Andronos said the videos “had wide circulation within the relevant caravanning market” and cited that the “market responses to the plaintiff and its product changed from about the time of (the videos being published) and orders declined significantly from that time”.
“I accept that the extent of the decline exceeded any general decline and, on the evidence before me, is only explicable by reason of the defendants’ posting of the first and second videos,” Judge Andronos said.
“I am therefore satisfied that the conduct of the defendants … caused loss and damage to the plaintiff as alleged.”
Neither Jackson nor Kyla appeared in court regarding this case, with Judge Andronos noting that Jackson had emailed both the court and plaintiff back in October 2025, who was then told that their defence would be struck out on December 16 if they didn’t appear.
Due to their failure to appear, the case resulted in a default judgment awarded to the plaintiff on Wednesday.
The Cartwrights have not publicly commented on the case, and it appears that both videos mentioned in the trial have been taken down from their YouTube channel.
Image source: Instagram / @thecartwrights
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