Three Queensland University of Technology students being sued for racism will learn next week whether their bid to throw out a $250,000 lawsuit has been successful.
The trio are being sued under the Racial Discrimination Act's controversial section 18C over a series of 2013 Facebook posts about a QUT computer lab reserved for indigenous students.
Federal Circuit Court Judge Michael Jarrett on Wednesday announced he'd hand down his judgment on an application to have the case thrown out next week, though a date has not been formally set for the matter.
Students Calum Thwaites, Alex Wood and Jackson Powell are being sued by Cindy Prior, the indigenous administration officer who asked the students to leave the indigenous-only computer lab.
The students are alleged to have written social media posts over the incident which Prior took offence to.
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Mr Thwaites denies responsibility for a two-word racist post while Mr Powell is being sued for writing "I wonder where the white supremacist lab is" in reference to the Oodgeroo unit.
A third student, Alex Wood, is also being sued for posting "Just got kicked out of the unsigned Indigenous computer room. QUT stopping segregation with segregation?".
Ms Prior has not worked since the May 2013 incident and is seeking damages and lost wages, plus future economic losses.
She complained to the Australian Human Rights Commission in May 2014, but the students weren't told until July 28, 2015, days before a final conference on the matter, which ultimately paved the way for the current Federal Court case.
Judge Jarrett called the parties together to inform them that in the late seventies and early eighties he had been taught by QUT's equity director Mary Kelly, who is one of the respondents in the civil case.
No objections were raised to Judge Jarrett continuing with the case.
