The NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos has
announced that the state will be reforming its class action
laws to bring it into line with the Federal and Victorian
regimes.
Although the details of the changes are not yet public, it is
known that the reforms will also include recommendations in the
Victorian Law Reform Commission's 2008 Civil Justice
Review and the Commonwealth Attorney-General's
Department's 2009 Access to Justice Report.
This will include giving the Supreme Court the power to order
that unclaimed damages from a successful class action be
distributed to a charity of public interest beneficiary when it is
not possible to locate all class members.
We'll be following this and will analyse the proposed
reforms when we see a draft bill, which is expected to be released
later this year, along with a discussion paper.
