On 24 July 2024, the Chief Justice reissued Practice Note SC Gen 17 – Supreme Court Representative Proceedings (“Class Actions”), with a commencement date of 1 August 2024. 

The revised Practice Note updates the practice that will apply to representative proceedings under Part 10 of the Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) commonly described as class actions, salient features of this include: 

• The Practice Note sets out guiding principles applicable to all representative proceedings commenced in the Supreme Court.
  
• Parties are encouraged proactively, collaboratively and expeditiously to identify issues which require the attention of the Court as well as proposals for how such issues might be addressed.
• Representative proceedings are to be commenced in the Division of the Court appropriate to their subject matter.
• At the time of commencement, the plaintiff’s solicitor must file and serve a Class Action Summary Statement, containing certain specified information, including the annexation of any litigation funding agreement.
• Lawyers for the parties are under an obligation to inform the Court of any competing class action proceedings of which they become aware.
• Unless otherwise ordered, an application for approval by the Court of a settlement or discontinuance of proceedings must be made by Notice of Motion.

You can download printable versions of the Practice Note from the links below:

• Re-issued Practice Note SC Gen 17 – Supreme Court Representative Proceedings – (“Class Actions”) (MS Word) (DOCX, 87.9 KB).
• Re-issued Practice Note SC Gen 17 – Supreme Court Representative Proceedings – (“Class Actions”) (PDF) (PDF, 246.3 KB).

The content will also be available from 25 July 2024 on the following webpage:

https://supremecourt.nsw.gov.au/practice-procedure/practice-notes/general-practice-notes.html