On April 30, 2025, France enacted a new law aimed at aligning French law with EU law (known as the "DDADUE Law"), which, under Article 16, introduces a new class action regime fully in line with the EU Representative Actions...more
Recent rulings indicate that it will be easier for cartel victims to pursue their claims in German courts by assigning them to a special purpose vehicle ("SPV"), which then litigates the combined claims as the sole plaintiff...more
Class action procedures vary greatly among jurisdictions. These differences include how developed the procedures are; the types of claims parties can bring; the parties that can represent classes; whether classes are...more
Although class actions have been common in the United States for decades, they have not been as widely used in the rest of the world. The situation and risks remain in flux, however, as more countries have renewed momentum to...more
Although class actions have been common in the United States for decades, they have not been as widely used in the rest of the world. The situation and risks remain in flux, however, as more countries have renewed momentum to...more
Although class actions have been common in the United States for decades, they have not been as widely used in the rest of the world. The situation and risks remain in flux, however, as more countries have renewed momentum to...more
12/22/2023
/ Article III ,
Australia ,
Class Action ,
EU ,
France ,
Germany ,
International Litigation ,
Jurisdiction ,
Settlement ,
Standing ,
UK
Although class actions have been common in the United States for decades, they have not been as widely used in the rest of the world. The situation and risks remain in flux, however, as more countries have renewed momentum to...more
Class actions have been a feature of the litigation landscape in the USA for decades. Claimant-friendly procedures combined with an aggressive and well-funded plaintiffs’ bar have created fertile ground for these large,...more
10/5/2023
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Data Breach ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Litigation Funding ,
Technology Sector ,
UK
For the first time consumers' "collective interests," as opposed to "subjective rights," are explicitly recognized and protected by an ad hoc tool, the Representative Action, which has made significant changes in the domestic...more
The French National Assembly has passed a bill intended to promote the use of class actions in line with the new EU Representative Actions Directive....more
The Situation: Negotiators for the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (the "Council") have reached an agreement on new European rules on collective consumer action. The Council has thus published a...more
The Situation: Belgian class actions are currently available to consumers, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises ("SMEs") seeking damages from businesses for violations of a number of EU and Belgian...more
The Situation: Under the new Italian framework, class actions will no longer be limited to consumer protection matters, and collective redress may be sought through simplified proceedings.
The Developments: A recently...more
The Situation: In 2018, Germany introduced a model declaratory action giving qualified institutions the right to raise liability claims on behalf of groups of consumers in a representative action. Once the court has issued a...more
The Situation: Currently, European law provides only for representative actions to stop or prohibit infringements of EU consumer law, but not for collective redress. As a result, significant differences exist in the...more
6/13/2018
/ Class Action ,
Collective Redress ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Cross-Border ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Member State ,
Proposed Legislation
The Situation: As agreed in the Coalition Contract of the current German government, the Federal Ministry of Justice officially presented the Act on Model Declaratory Proceedings ("Draft Act") on May 9, 2018, after protracted...more
A proposal released by the European Commission for tightening consumer protection regulations in the European Union includes an expansion of both class actions and enforcement powers. The proposal, titled "The New Deal for...more
The Situation: On January 31, 2018, the Italian Supreme Court ruled on the first Italian product-related class action promoted by a consumers' association.
The Result: The Court upheld the consumer's class action claim...more