Other · Class Actions / Representative Proceedings
Settlement distribution scheme (with safeguards for technology-assisted claims assessment)
An original settlement distribution scheme for court approval: administrator, settlement fund, approved deductions, registration and eligibility, loss assessment, review rights, distribution, reporting, and safeguards where software or AI helps assess claims.
- Kind
- Other. A precedent that fits none of the other kinds.
- Where it applies
- Australia, New South Wales, Victoria
- AI use
- Red Keep AI out of the decisive steps. A lawyer does the work.
- Law stated as at
- 17 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked against the cited sources on 17 October 2026.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when seeking court approval of a class action settlement under s 33V of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) or the state equivalents. The scheme must fit the deed of settlement and the court's orders. Do not use where the settlement provides fixed payments with no assessment.
How AI may be used
Lawyer-led and court-supervised. Software or AI may help extract data and calculate entitlements under the approved formula, but every adverse or reduced assessment is reviewed by a person, the method is disclosed to the court, and group members can seek review.
AI may
- Extract data from claim forms and supporting documents into the assessment database
- Apply the court-approved formula to verified data and show the calculation
- Flag duplicates, missing documents and outliers for human review
AI must not
- Must not reject or reduce a claim without human review
- Must not apply criteria other than those in the approved scheme
- Must not use group member data for any purpose other than administering the scheme or in a tool that trains on it
The lawyer checks
- The scheme is consistent with the deed and the approval orders
- Any technology-assisted assessment has been disclosed to the court and validated
- Notices of assessment give reasons and review rights
- Reports to the court are accurate and on time
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Class Actions / Representative Proceedings
- Opt-out notice, notice distribution plan and settlement-notice checklist (Federal Court class action)
- Litigation funding agreement and costs review checklist (including common fund orders and Victorian group costs orders)
- Periodic update letter to group members (clients and registered group members)
- Group member registration and intake protocol (including AI triage of registrations)
- Prompt template with guardrails: reconciling registrations to the class definition
All precedents for Class Actions / Representative Proceedings · Tasks and AI use in this area