CY Pres Awards and Court Settlements

"Community Legal Aid does important work in our community in a variety of areas and is a logical choice for a cy pres award. In resolving a class action suit for one of my corporate clients, I was pleased that they were able to direct the unclaimed settlement funds to CLA and contribute to its efforts to improve the lives of our most vulnerable citizens through legal advocacy." Jonathan R. Sigel, Esq., Partner, Mirick O'Connell

Please keep Community Legal Aid in mind when directing a Cy Pres or court settlement award. Cy Pres awards allow unclaimed settlement funds from class action suits to be distributed to organizations that are most likely to benefit or pursue the interests of the class. Court settlement awards come about when parties in a case agree that as part of the settlement one party will make a specified dollar contribution to a specific charity and the court approves the settlement. The Massachusetts IOLTA Committee says it best: “Class action residuals are an ideal way to advance the goal of ensuring equal access to justice and serve the interests that the class action was designed to address.” The IOLTA Committee’s manual on expanding access to justice through cy pres and other court awards can be found here.

Awards to CLA can be unrestricted—for general support—or can be designated to support legal assistance for a particular population or a specific area of law within CLA’s scope. For more information contact:

Jonathan L. Mannina, Esq.

Executive Director

Community Legal Aid

P: (508) 425-2804

E: jmannina@cla-ma.org