What are Slater and Gordon investigating?
Following a successful judgment in the Supreme Court class action proceeding Meredith v NSW (which covered strip searches by NSW Police between 2016 and 2022), Slater and Gordon is now investigating potential claims arising from strip searches conducted by NSW Police at music festivals in New South Wales from 22 July 2022 onwards.
What are Slater and Gordon investigating?
If you were strip searched by NSW Police at any music festival in NSW on or after 22 July 2022, you may be eligible to participate in this potential class action.
If you are unsure whether your experience falls within the investigation period or scope, you can still register your interest and we will contact you with further information as the investigation progresses.
What does investigating mean?
Slater and Gordon is investigating the merits of potential claims arising from strip searches conducted by NSW Police at music festivals in NSW from 22 July 2022.
We have not yet formally commenced a class action by issuing proceedings in court.
If a class action is formally commenced and you have registered your interest, we will get in touch and provide you with more information, including details about:
the claims being advanced
what it means to be a group member
any steps you may need to take at that time
How do I register my interest?
To keep updated as the investigation progresses, you can register your interest by completing the registration form here.
It does not cost you anything to register your interest.
Register your interest If you were strip searched by NSW Police at any music festival in NSW from 22 July 2022 onwards, you may register your interest by filling out the form below.
Registering your interest:
- does not cost you anything
- does not require you to make a final decision about participation in any future class action
- allows Slater and Gordon to contact you with further information as the investigation develops.
Registering your interest allows Slater and Gordon to gauge interest in this proceeding and obtain information regarding the experiences of potential group members.
Frequently Asked Questions
A class action is a type of legal proceeding in which one person, the Applicant, brings a claim on behalf of a wider group of people who have been affected by the same conduct. By grouping claims together and pursuing them collectively, the overall value of the claim makes it economically worthwhile to do so, even if the value of individual claims are modest.
A strip search may include if police asked you to remove all of your clothing, but it may also include if:
You were asked to take off some of your clothing other than outer-layer clothing like a jacket;
- You were asked to show or move your bra or underpants;
- Police looked underneath your bra or underpants;
- Police peered into your clothing to see your bra, underpants or parts of your body; or
- Police put their hands under or touched underneath your clothing.
Please don’t be concerned about contacting us if you aren’t sure whether what happened to you was a strip search – it is still very helpful to hear from you, and our legal team can help to assess what kind of a search you experienced.
A search can still be unlawful even if an officer discovered an illegal item on you in the course of the search, so we hope to hear from people affected by these searches regardless of whether anything was found.
Similarly, please feel free to contact us even if you aren’t sure whether the search you experienced was lawful or not – the legal standards involved in assessing the legality of a search are complex, so it’s to be expected that a lot of people won’t know this for sure. By telling us what you experienced, you can help us to assess the lawfulness of a range of searches in different situations, including what happened to you.
If you have been strip searched by police at a music festival in NSW from 22 July 2022, we invite you to register your interest here.
By registering your interest, you are asking Slater and Gordon to provide you with updated information in relation to the investigation, and to assist you with any future Court-ordered registration process if the class action proceeds.
Yes, your information will be kept confidential by Slater and Gordon, and you will not be identified to any other party or government department without your consent, unless directed by the court to do so.
By registering you are providing your information to Slater and Gordon to use for the purpose of the class action proceeding. Your information will only be used for that purpose and will only be available to Slater and Gordon unless you decide otherwise.
If you register, a member of the class actions team at Slater and Gordon may contact you again at some stage to ask whether you would be willing to provide some further information about your experiences or to answer some further questions as our case progresses. Any involvement you have is completely voluntary, and you can ask not to be contacted again.