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ARTICLE · 05 DECEMBER 2010

NSW rolls back contentious cy-près rule in class actions bill

Clayton Utz
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The NSW Government has removed the contentious provision in its class actions bill allowing the Supreme Court to distribute the undistributed part of a fund of damages to charities or public interest beneficiaries, a move that should be welcomed by all potential defendants to a class action.

AustraliaGovernment, Public Sector
Stuart Clark
Stuart Clark
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The NSW Government has removed the contentious provision in its class actions bill allowing the Supreme Court to distribute the undistributed part of a fund of damages to charities or public interest beneficiaries, a move that should be welcomed by all potential defendants to a class action.

The original proposal and exposure draft of the Civil Procedure Amendment (Supreme Court Representative Proceedings) Bill 2010 (now the Courts and Crimes Legislation Further Amendment Bill 2010) gave the Supreme Court extremely broad powers:

  • to order the establishment of a fund of money to be distributed to group members; and
  • to establish a scheme for money remaining in the fund (or any part of it), that cannot practicably be distributed to group members, to be applied cy-près, which means "as near as (possible)".

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