The introduction of the amendments to the Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) requiring parties to take reasonable steps to resolve disputes by mutual agreement or to more narrowly define the contentious issues prior to the commencement of court proceedings will be postponed for 18 months.
The decision to postpone the introduction of pre-litigation obligations, which were to apply to all matters filed from 1 October 2011, was made to enable NSW to monitor the effect of similar pre-litigation obligations on parties (to take genuine steps to resolve disputes) that were introduced in Federal courts on 1 August 2011.
NSW Attorney General Greg Smith SC announced the decision to postpone the introduction of the laws on 23 August 2011. The reason for the decision was to ensure that compliance with pre-litigation obligations will in fact reduce, and not add to, the cost of resolving disputes.
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