Cy Pres Award

Cy pres awards are funds in class action cases that, for a variety of reasons, cannot be distributed to class members or beneficiaries who were the intended recipients. Pronounced “sigh pray” from the French cy pres comme possible – “as near as possible” was first endorsed in the California Supreme Court in 1986 as a mechanism of the “fluid recovery” of class action settlements.

The cy pres doctrine authorizes a trial court to award any unallocated, unclaimed, or undeliverable funds from class action settlements and judgments to its next best use. Under California Code of Civil Procedure Code § 384(b), these funds can be distributed to nonprofit organizations which support programs that will benefit people in similar situations. The WISE & Healthy Aging Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs in the counties of Los Angeles and San Bernardino are appropriate recipients of cy pres funds.

Some examples of appropriate cy pres awards would be settlements in:

• Elder abuse
• Nursing home understaffing
• Residential care facility negligence
• Injuries: bedsores, dehydration, malnutrition, infections, and falls
• Caregiver fraud
• Financial exploitation

If you have any questions about the Long-Term Care Ombudsman programs and services in the counties of Los Angeles and San Bernardino, or would like more information to help name us as a cy pres recipient in a pending action, please contact:

cypres@wiseandhealthyaging.org

Thank you for considering WISE & Healthy Aging’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program as a recipient of cy pres funding.