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WA lawyers to feel effect of proposed class actions regime
A new bill to enact a class actions regime is set to be introduced in Western Australia’s state parliament this week, with hopes it will increase access to justice.
Emma Musgrave
Attorney-General John Quigley has confirmed the Civil Procedure (Representative Proceedings) Bill 2019 will be introduced into WA Parliament, which will urge the state to adopt a new class actions regime.
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In an update to the public, Mr Quigley noted the importance class actions serve in allowing those who have suffered to seek compensation.
“Class actions, at its heart, is an access to justice issue,” the the attorney-general said.
“There are many in our community with the right and very deserving case for compensation but who are unable to access the courts because they simply cannot afford to bring an action.
“In particular, there are situations where a legal wrong has been committed which affects many people, but each person’s individual loss is not such as to make it economically viable to bring an individual action.”
Without a “strong and sustainable mechanism” for bringing class actions, countless individuals will not see justice and their losses will go uncompensated, according to Mr Quigley.
“The availability of such a scheme is of increasing importance in an economy in which civil wrongs are often committed on a mass scale by large and powerful entities,” he said.
“One of the requirements for class actions is that there must be seven or more individuals with claims against the same person which are in respect of, or arise out of, the same, similar or related circumstances.
“This regime has been substantially adopted in Victoria in 2000, New South Wales in 2011 and Queensland in 2017 and has stood the test of time.
“It is yet another example of an important law reform initiative which the former Barnett Liberal National Government failed to implement, despite the Law Reform Commission’s recommendation back in 2015.
“This regime will not only enhance access to justice by reducing the cost of court proceedings to the individual and improve the individual’s ability to access legal remedies, it will [also] enable court resources to be used more efficiently.”
The proposed regime comes after several high-profile class actions have been filed in neighbouring states.
These include Maurice Blackburn’s shareholder class action against AMP, of which the former won the right to lead recently, and William Roberts Lawyers’ class action against Suncorp Super.
