Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission has released a Supplementary Issues Paper on class actions and is now seeking public feedback.
“We have considered all the feedback we received on our first Issues Paper and confirm our view that Aotearoa New Zealand should have a statutory class actions regime” says Commission President Amokura Kawharu, lead Commissioner on the class actions and litigation funding review.
“We think class actions can be an efficient way of managing multiple claims and a means of improving access to justice. We are now inviting feedback on some detailed class actions issues to assist us in developing a class actions regime for Aotearoa New Zealand.”
Topics covered in the Supplementary Issues Paper are:
- Commencement and certification of class actions.
- Competing class actions.
- Relationships with class members, including the lawyer-class member relationship.
- Issues that arise during a class action, including notice to class members and managing individual issues.
- Issues associated with class actions judgments.
- Settlement of a class action.
The Commission’s 2020 Issues Paper contained a comprehensive discussion of litigation funding issues. Therefore the Commission is not seeking further feedback on litigation funding (except where they overlap with class actions) but will continue to develop its proposals in this area.
The Supplementary Issues Paper invites feedback on 54 questions on class actions, with submissions due by 12 November 2021.
The Law Society will make a submission on the Supplementary Issues Paper. Lawyers who wish to contribute to this submission can email comments to Nilu.Ariyaratne@lawsociety.org.nz
The Commission is also hosting four workshops in October 2021 to provide another way of giving feedback on the Supplementary Issues Paper. Those who are interested in participating in these workshops can sign up online.
The Commission’s final report on class actions and litigation funding is due in May 2022.
Source: lawsociety.org.nz
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