Southern Response Class Action to Proceed
MEDIA RELEASE
Monday 30 October 2017
Mr Cameron, Solicitor for the policyholders in the Southern Response Class Action confirmed this afternoon, that “the
group were very pleased to receive a positive judgment from the Court of Appeal” and that, “as this case has been held
up on preliminary matters for far too long, the Court of Appeal’s decision will be of great relief to our clients”.
The key findings were:
- that in the High Court, Justice Gendall was right to grant leave for a representative action;
- and that the representative action procedure is a just and efficient means of dealing with these claims; and
- the Court of Appeal envisages that Southern Response yet be required to provide information about the proceedings to
other potential claimants.
“We are pleased that the Court of Appeal has provided further directions as to how the pleadings might be amended to
assist the efficient and timely management of the case through the High Court” said Mr Cameron. “Indeed the Court of
Appeal was concerned at the time this case has taken to reach this stage and has firmly recommended cooperation between
the parties to get things back on track. We anticipate that progress will also be made as soon as the new government
comes to grips with the reality of the delays occasioned by its predecessor”.
The Court found that both the breach of contract allegations and the breach of good faith claims, could be properly
dealt with through this mode of action and Mr Cameron stated that “the court accepted that the group was now free to
prove to the High Court that Southern Response formulated and applied a strategy to misrepresent the nature of the
claimant’s contractual rights and to delay the processing of those claims”.
Finally, the Court of Appeal also reversed the High Court decision to allow a further cooling off period for
policyholders and specified how the High Court might yet be satisfied on the minor issues for those clients without a
DRA at the end of April 2015.