Class Actions, Litigation Funding and Access to Justice
25 Pages Posted: 13 Sep 2017
Date Written: July 1, 2017
Abstract
The Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC), Access to Justice — Litigation Funding and Group Proceedings Consultation Paper (July 2017) is a comprehensive review of the numerous issues that have been debated in relation to the operation of class actions in Australia, including the group proceedings regime contained in Part 4A of the Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic).
The Victorian Attorney-General and the VLRC are to be congratulated for undertaking this review as the class actions regime, with the aid of litigation funding, has become a central plank for access to justice. However, class actions are often expensive with the result that much of the access to justice achieved, usually monetary compensation, does not go to the group members who have been harmed. Instead the resources that could have been used to compensate the victims of bushfires, faulty hip implants, anti-competitive conduct or securities law violations (alleged but not proved in most cases) are lost to transaction costs. The Civil Justice System must do better and a review of class actions, legal fees and litigation funding is an important first step.
The aim of this paper is to respond to a selection of the issues raised by the VLRC consultation paper, in particular: • certification of class actions, including address multiple/concurrent class actions; • settlement criteria; • court oversight of costs and fees; • assistance for courts in providing oversight; • confidentiality of settlement amounts, legal fees and funder fees; and • forum shopping.
The hope is that by setting out responses ahead of the deadline for submissions this will encourage others to critique the responses or express agreement.
Keywords: Victorian Law Reform Commission, VLRC, Access to Justice, Litigation Funding, Group Proceedings, Class Actions, Civil Justice System
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