The group proceeding, brought by Slater and Gordon Lawyers and Redfern Legal Centre, will begin on May 5 next year (2025) and is expected to run for four weeks.
Setting of the trial date follows an attempt by the NSW government’s legal representatives to have the case thrown out by filing an unsuccessful application to dismiss the case over claims of insufficient common issues between those who were strip searched.
Redfern Legal Centre senior police accountability solicitor, Samantha Lee, said the government appeared to be continuing its attempts to prolong proceedings by recently advising that a strike-out application would be made in relation to exemplary damages being sought against NSW police for systemic issues related to strip searches.
“The setting of a hearing date places further pressure on the government to decide whether it will fight young people all the way to a hearing or acknowledge the wrong that the invasive and harmful practice of strip searches has perpetrated and pursue mediation,” Ms Lee said.
The class action was filed in July 2022. Lead plaintiff Raya Meredith alleges she was unlawfully strip-searched by NSW Police at the Splendour in the Grass music festival in Byron Bay in 2018.
Slater and Gordon Lawyers and Redfern Legal Centre are jointly running the class action on behalf of hundreds of other festivalgoers who allege their strip searches by police between 2016 and 2022 constituted unlawful acts, including assault, battery, and false imprisonment.
Class Actions Associate Meg Lessing, from Slater and Gordon, said the trial date marked an important step towards obtaining justice for group members.
“In addition to the trial date being set, Justice Garling has ordered that police produce the contact details of everyone searched by police at relevant music festivals so they can be informed about their potential rights,” Ms Lessing said.
“We encourage anybody who thinks they may be a group member in these proceedings to register on the Slater and Gordon website to ensure that they obtain updates about the case moving forward and any active steps they may need to take to make a claim.
“We are looking forward to the court determining important legal issues at trial so that people who have had their legal rights infringed by police can be properly compensated.”
