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The NSW government has signalled its intention to appeal the landmark strip-search class action ruling, which examined the lawfulness of police strip searches at music festivals.
Last month, the Supreme Court of NSW heard Raya Meredith’s account of being subjected to an invasive strip search at Splendour in the Grass in 2018, during which she was ordered to remove her tampon, lift and expose parts of her body, and bend over.
Ultimately, no drugs were found on her.
Justice Dina Yehia awarded Meredith $93,000 in damages, finding that the officer’s actions went “far beyond” what was objectively necessary and describing her experience as “humiliating treatment while at a total loss of liberty”.
Slater & Gordon, which led the class action lawsuit that expanded to include hundreds of others alleging they were unlawfully strip-searched by police between 2016 and 2022, had been negotiating a settlement between the state and these claimants.
However, the national law firm revealed that the state of NSW has “now signalled an intention to appeal the judgment”.
William Zerno, senior associate in class actions at Slater & Gordon, warned that an appeal would only delay justice for those thousands affected and subjected to these unlawful strip searches.