1. Introduction Swiss civil procedural law today only provides for very limited possibilities of collective redress, which the Swiss Federal Council has recognized in a report back in 2013 as insufficient. However, the issue of how exactly collective redress shall be strengthened is highly controversial. A first proposal by the Federal Council was rejected by Parliament in 2014. Relevant amendments were also initially included in the draft of the revised Civil Procedure Code (CPC) in…
Although class action procedures were codified in Russian civil procedure legislation in October 2019, they have not been especially popular or widely used in the last two years. Just a handful of class action cases have been resolved so far. Lately, however, it seems they are becoming more common – even reaching the e-learning sector, which has expanded significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia. A class action against an educational platform called GeekBrains has…
This article discusses the judgment of the Amsterdam District Court issued on 29 December 2021 that clarifies certain admissibility requirements for representatives claiming damages under the Settling of Large-scale Losses or Damage (Class Actions) Act (WAMCA). Introduction On 29 December 2020, the Amsterdam District Court handed down a judgment providing new insights on admissibility requirements for representatives claiming damages under the Settling of Large-scale Losses or Damage (Class Actions) Act (Wet Afwikkeling Massaschade in Collectieve…
Justice Belobaba recently refused to certify a class action arising from the “diesel-gate” auto emissions scandal. In 2015, regulatory authorities announced that certain manufacturers had been installing “defeat devices” in their diesel vehicles to cheat on emissions tests and violate clean air laws. Unlike other class proceedings related to the scandal, this proposed class consisted of owners and lessees of vehicles who sold or returned their vehicles before the scandal was revealed (pre-disclosure owners). At…
The expansion of opt-out class actions in the UK continues with certification of claims aimed at recovering for alleged systemic abuses of dominance across the south east and west rail networks. The judgment reinforces that certification will be viewed as only a first step in class litigation in the UK – as opposed to the immediate precursor to settlement that it can signify in the US and Canada – and reinforces the likelihood that claimant…
In a judgment handed down this week by its Grand Chamber, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) decided that, under certain circumstances, a subsidiary can be held liable for cartel activity engaged by its parent company. This judgment has potentially far-reaching consequences and may give an additional impetus to private damages litigation. Background On 24 October 2019, Sumal (an alleged victim of the Trucks cartel) brought a claim for damages in follow-on litigation in front of…
The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT or “Tribunal”) has certified the first opt-out collective action since the UK class actions regime was introduced in 2015. The application had been dismissed on first consideration but after a series of appeals that went all the way to the Supreme Court, Walter Merricks CBE has been granted a Collective Proceedings Order (CPO) in his GBP 14 billion claim on interchange fees. The size and complexity of the claims…
In brief In the recent decision of Bywater v Appco Group Australia Pty Ltd [2020] FCA 1877, his Honour Justice Lee of the Federal Court approved a proposed settlement of a class action commenced against Appco Group Australia Pty Ltd. The decision highlights some of the persuasive factors a Court will consider in determining whether to approve a settlement where the proposed settlement sum is significantly less than the asserted value of a group’s claims. Key takeaways His…
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The UK Supreme Court gave its judgment in Mastercard Incorporated and others (Appellants) v Walter Hugh Merricks CBE (Respondent) [UKSC 2019/0118] on 11 December 2020. It confirmed the decision made by the Court of Appeal that a representative applying for certification of a class must show that they have a method with a realistic prospect of assessing loss across the whole class and that the data required to apply that methodology is likely to be…