Earlier this year, the SJC approved several amendments to the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure, which are to take effect on September 1, 2023. One such amendment applies to Mass. R. Civ. P. 23, and specifically to the section concerning notice to the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee prior to the disposition of residual or “cy pres” funds. That section, 23(e)(3), currently provides: “Where residual funds may remain, no judgment may enter or compromise be approved unless the plaintiff has given notice to the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee for the limited purpose of allowing the committee to be heard on whether it ought to be a recipient of any or all residual funds.”
That section, 23(e)(3), has been amended to include the following two sentences:
The plaintiff shall provide such notice no later than 30 days prior to the entry of judgment or any hearing approving any compromise that creates residual funds. If no later than 10 days prior to the entry