Draft Terms of Reference were published on 10 March for the COVID-19 public inquiry, chaired by Baroness Hallett (see here ). A consultation on the Terms of Reference is open until 7 April 2022. Scope of the inquiry Based on the draft Terms of Reference, the inquiry will: examine the COVID-19 response and the impact of the pandemic, and produce a factual narrative account; and identify the lessons to be learned to inform the UK’s…
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…
On 12 January 2022, the High Court of Justice (“High Court”) handed down its judgment in the challenges to the Government’s award of contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE) during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.[i] The Court ruled that it was unlawful for those suppliers referred by Ministers, MPs and other senior officials to be afforded favourable treatment, by being allocated to a so-called ‘VIP lane’. Notwithstanding this, the Court did not find…
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…
Private enforcement of competition law is gaining momentum in Poland. Although the national legislation implementing Directive 2014/104/EU on damages for competition law infringements (the “Directive”) entered into force in 2017, its provisions did not trigger as many cases as expected for the first few years. This has now changed and the possibility to seek compensation for competition law infringements is now firmly on potential claimants’ radar. The limitation period applicable to competition claims has been…
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…
In 2021, a new law concerning civil proceedings became effective in Poland. The new law introduced, among other things, three major changes that will impact the proceedings. The online service of court documents during proceedings and online hearings as default are new and have been forced by the Covid-19 pandemic and will last for its duration. They are aimed at facilitating safe communication between the court and the parties to the proceedings. The third change…
A recent judgment by the German Federal Court of Justice paves the way for forum shopping in abuse of dominance cases[1]. Following the European Court of Justice’s Wikingerhof decision, the Federal Court of Justice has clarified that tort jurisdiction may apply even if the conduct in dispute is covered by contractual provisions. In addition, the Federal Court of Justice has confirmed the restrictive interpretation of generic choice-of-forum clauses of the sort that is often found…