New Zealand Commission Recommends Changes To Class Action And Funding Regulations
An advisory body in New Zealand has provided updated guidance and recommendations for new legislation to regulate class actions and the litigation funding industry. The Law Commission, an independent Crown entity, has put forward a range of proposals including a new Class Actions Act, which aims to strengthen access to legal redress by removing restrictions on the types of claims or legal jurisdictions under which actions can be brought. The recommendations also include an array of suggestions for improving and regulating legal funding. Providing insights for Bell Gully, Sophie East and Tim Shiels highlight that the commission’s approach focused on both tightening regulation of the industry, whilst also recognizing that litigation funding has been key to expanding access to the class actions process. Among the proposals focused on litigation funding are measures to ensure all funding agreements are approved by the court, that claimants must disclose these agreements, and provide the courts with the power to implement cost orders on the litigation funders. Finally, they note that in a separate move, the commission recommends the creation of a publicly-funded class action scheme to avoid potential claimants being left behind if their actions would not be commercially profitable for a third party funder.