A legal charity nominated to receive unclaimed damages from successful opt-out collective actions could support more people access the legal help they need if it were allowed to claim unclaimed cash from settlement agreements, the Labour party conference has heard.
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, unclaimed damages must be paid to the Access to Justice Foundation. The foundation, which awards grants and raises funds for free legal advice, was recommended by the Jackson Review of Costs, the Civil Justice Council and HM Treasury’s financial services rules committee as a suitable body to receive unclaimed sums.
Martha de la Roche, the foundation’s insights and engagement director, told a fringe event organised by the Legal Aid Practitioners Group that since the regime was introduced, a case has yet to go to trial. However, the foundations is seeing more settlements.
Read more:
This month, the parties in the first Boundary Fares class action agreed to £3.78m in damages going to the foundation, which was approved by the Competition Appeal Tribunal. But de la Roche told the conference there were no prescribed rules for what happens to undistributed damages from a settlement agreement.
Calling for consistency, de la Roche said the Department for Business & Trade is currently reviewing the operation and impact of the opt-out collective actions regime. Its call for evidence, which closes on 6 October, asks what should happen to unclaimed funds from a settlement agreement.
As for the £3.78m, de la Roche said the charity was starting to funnel the money back into frontline organisations.
1 Reader's comment