scholarly journals Are Class Actions Finally (Re)conquering Europe? Some Remarks on Directive 2020/1828

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 14-22
Author(s):  
Astrid Stadler
Keyword(s):  
Public Access ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Collective Interest ◽  
Class Actions ◽  
Legal Standing ◽  
Collective Redress ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
National Legislatures ◽  
Union Directive

The article provides a brief overview of the background of the new European Union directive on representative actions for protection of the collective interest of consumers (Directive 2020/1828). It describes the basic elements of the directive and explains the major changes that have occurred since the European Commission issued its Recommendation document on collective redress in 2013. The author highlights the issues of the scope of application of the directive, of legal standing to bring a representative action, of collective settlements, and of the problem of funding for collective actions. This discussion puts emphasis on the need to extend legal standing to individual members of the group and articulates an appeal to national legislatures, particularly in Germany, to be more open-minded towards commercial litigation funding and the establishment of a public access-to-justice fund designed to guarantee the effectiveness of Directive 2020/1828 and its implementation.

Collective Access to Justice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Molavi
Keyword(s):  
Access To Justice ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Class Actions ◽  
Collective Redress

At a time when the collective redress landscape is undergoing a period of transformative change, this important and timely research focuses on class actions in England and Wales. Aiming to promote access to justice, this pioneering work separates fact from fiction in an easily digestible way, offering progressive solutions for reform.

Funding of Collective Actions

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klára Hamuľáková
Keyword(s):  
Significant Influence ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Class Actions ◽  
Collective Redress ◽  
Legal Costs ◽  
The Right

Summary The paper deals with the questions of funding of collective actions. Proper funding has significant influence on the right to the access to the court and is a precondition for the efficient course of litigation in general, specifically in connection with a collective redress. Funding of class actions is also closely related with other issues such as costs and lawyer’s fees, reimbursement of legal costs and moreover.

scholarly journals Winner of the SLS Annual Conference Best Paper Prize 2013: Bogeymen, lunatics and fanatics: collective actions and the private enforcement of European competition law

Legal Studies ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Wardhaugh
Keyword(s):  
Competition Law ◽  
Legal Culture ◽  
Class Action ◽  
Private Enforcement ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Class Actions ◽  
Collective Redress ◽  
Authority Figures ◽  
European Competition Law

The European desire to ensure that bearers of EU rights are adequately compensated for any infringement of these rights, particularly in cases where the harm is widely diffused, and perhaps not even noticed by those affected by it, collides with another desire: to avoid the perceived excesses of an American-style system of class actions. The excesses of these American class actions are in European discourse presented as a sort of bogeyman, which is a source of irrational fear, often presented by parental or other authority figures. But when looked at critically, the bogeyman disappears. In this paper, I examine the European (and UK) proposals for collective action. I compare them to the American regime. The flaws and purported excesses of the American regime, I argue, are exaggerated. A close, objective examination of the American regime shows this. I conclude that it is not the mythical bogeyman of a US class action that is the barrier to effective collective redress; rather, the barriers to effective, wide-ranging group actions lie within European legal culture and traditions, particularly those mandating individual control over litigation.

scholarly journals Private Antitrust Enforcement: A New Era for Collective Redress?

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 11-32
Author(s):  
Silvia Pais
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Competition Law ◽  
Forum Shopping ◽  
Antitrust Enforcement ◽  
New Era ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Class Actions ◽  
Legal Standing ◽  
Collective Redress ◽  
The Eu

It will be argued in this article that the EU Recommendation on common principles for collective redress might have limited impact on the field of competition law due to: several uncertainties regarding the legal standing in class actions; difficulties in their funding; and the risk of forum shopping with cross-border actions. Nevertheless, Belgium and Great Britain have recently introduced class actions into their national legal systems and addressed some of the difficulties which other Member States were experiencing already. It will also be suggested that the Portuguese model – the ‘Popular Action’ – and recent Portuguese practice may be considered an interesting example to follow in order to overcome some of the identified obstacles to private antitrust enforcement.

Law’s Financialization: Litigation Finance and Multilayer Access to Justice in Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-445
Author(s):  
Michael Molavi
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Current Period ◽  
Class Actions ◽  
Collective Redress ◽  
The World ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Contemporary Development

AbstractIn the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, states around the world have experienced sustained growth in the emerging industry of litigation finance in light of the perceived insularity of courtrooms from the instabilities and fluctuations of financial markets. In Canada, this nascent industry has been dominated by class actions given the high costs, risk exposures, and attractive rewards associated with collective redress. Such investments have been legitimated as promoting access to justice, a fundamental human right. This paper traces the historical and contemporary development of this legal dynamic of financialization by documenting the progressive liberalization of maintenance and champerty laws from the nineteenth century to the current period through a series of case studies, before exploring the legal economics of the emerging industry in Canada. In so doing, this paper critically examines the impacts of law’s financialization on multilayer access to justice.

Collective Access to Justice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Molavi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Class Actions ◽  
Collective Redress

At a time when the collective redress landscape is undergoing a period of transformative change, this research focuses on class actions in England and Wales. The author provides an objective analysis of the costs and benefits of these proceedings from an access to justice perspective. Aiming to promote accessibility, this pioneering work separates fact from fiction in an easily digestible way, offering progressive solutions for reform. The book begins with a discussion on England and Wales's need for increasing access to justice, given that the capacity of people to access justice is paramount in a democracy governed by the rule of law. The Competition Appeal Tribunal (legislation introduced in Parliament on 23 January 2014) is considered the only area where class actions are available. The book outlines the historical and comparative context of class actions that have developed since their modern origins in the United States, and offers a deeper look into reforms in England and Wales. It concludes that the current landscape of collective claims-making leaves a major access-to-justice gap that demands reform.

scholarly journals The Concept of Locus Standi in Collective Protection of Consumer Rights – the Pitfalls of Transposition of European Model into the Czech Legal Order

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-223
Author(s):  
Klára Hamuľáková
Keyword(s):  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
European Model ◽  
Locus Standi ◽  
Legal Standing ◽  
Collective Redress ◽  
Consumer Rights ◽  
Proposal A ◽  
Commission Recommendation

Summary The paper deals with collective protection of consumer rights from the European and Czech point of view. The attention is focused on the question of the concept of legal standing to bring a collective actions (i.e. locus standi) The article compares the legal regulation of legal standing to bring a collective action in the Commission Recommendation of 11 June 2013 on common principles for injunctive and compensatory collective redress mechanisms in the Member States concerning violations of rights granted under Union law (2013/396/EU), in the proposal a new Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers [COM/2018/184 final-2018/0089 (COD)] and the Czech bill for the Collective Redress Act.

scholarly journals INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE OF THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF GROUP LAWSUITS

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (42) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
T. Oldak
Keyword(s):  
International Experience ◽  
Class Action ◽  
Procedural Law ◽  
Class Actions ◽  
Opt Out ◽  
Civil Proceedings ◽  
Legitimate Interests ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
General Scientific ◽  
Large Groups

The article is devoted to the study of international experience of theoretical and practical aspects of proceedings in class actions. This study will present various models of regulation in this area of the Anglo-Saxon and mixed legal families. By analyzing this legal basis, the practice of application will be possible to establish the essence of the class action in civil proceedings by disclosing the main features that are inherent in it and are such that distinguish it from other procedural structures aimed at protecting violated rights and legitimate interests as effective judicial mechanism.The subject of the study is issues related to one of the jurisdictional ways to protect the rights and legitimate interests of large groups of people. The purpose of this work is to publish the results of the study, which was conducted as part of a dissertation study on "Group lawsuit in civil proceedings in Ukraine." During the study, a general scientific dialectical method of use was used, which allowed to comprehensively study the main provisions of class action in foreign procedural law and the possibility of its development in the legislation of Ukraine, and provided an opportunity to reveal the nature of class actions in civil proceedings. stages. The scope of application of the results of the development of the theoretical basis in the field of mechanisms for the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of large groups of persons in order to introduce the appropriate procedure in the civil procedure legislation of Ukraine.Key words: civil proceedings, group lawsuit, initiating plaintiff, numerous groups, litigation proceedings, model "opt-in", "opt-out".

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