Australia: Postponing the pre-litigation reforms
Corporate risk and insurance update

The NSW Government has released a media statement on 23 August 2011 announcing that it will postpone the introduction of recent legislation, which required parties to take reasonable steps to narrow or resolve the issues in dispute before commencing proceedings.

Amendments to section 2A of the Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) commenced on 1 April 2011 and were to apply to proceedings filed on or after 1 October 2011.  However, following this media statement by the NSW Government, it appears that the new pre-litigation requirements will not take effect until at least 1 April 2013.

The NSW Government has reported that: ... since the laws were passed last year, concerns have been raised by a number of key stakeholders that the provisions may have unintended consequences.[1] It appears that these concerns largely related to the perception that the new requirements would increase the cost of resolving disputes, which would somewhat defeat their purpose. 

According to the NSW Attorney General, the NSW Government has decided to postpone the effect of the provisions to enable it to: ... make informed decision about the future of Part 2A, using all of the available evidence.[2] In particular, the Attorney General stated that the 'reasonable steps' provisions will be postponed by 18 months to allow the NSW Government to observe and consider the effect of similar provisions which were recently introduced in the Federal Courts under the Civil Dispute Resolution Act 2011  (Cth). 

[1] The Attorney General Minister for Justice, 'NSW Government to Postpone Pre-Litigation Reforms' (Media Release, 23 August 2011)

[2] The Attorney General Minister for Justice, 'NSW Government to Postpone Pre-Litigation Reforms' (Media Release, 23 August 2011)

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This report does not comprise legal advice and neither Gadens Lawyers nor the authors accept any responsibility for it.