Will the EU bring new legislation in to match US-style class actions?

In the UK, we largely have an “opt-in” class action system, meaning victims who may have a claim for compensation that will form as part of a Group Litigation Order (GLO) action will have to agree to pursue a claim themselves. Conversely, America have “opt-out” systems, meaning people can be included in the class case without having to confirm their participation first, and if they don’t want to be a part of it, they may opt-out.

With the growing number of large group action cases taking place in the UK and around Europe, there are calls from the EU to bring in new rules that could see us matching the American law system.

The Volkswagen Emission Scandal is a perfect example of where an “opt-in system” would probably be far more beneficial than the current one we have.

The scale of that case means there may be more than 2 million potential claimants eligible to join the action.

Collective redress measures in a number of action areas could allow people to band together far more easily, and the EU are reportedly pushing member states to try and adopt better systems for people to claim more easily.

Areas being looked at with particular interest include:

The UK did actually legislate for an “opt-out” system for Competition breach actions a few years ago.

Recommendations date as far back as 2013, and we do feel that a more streamlined process will be far more beneficial for people to be able to claim in a group.

We have been, and still are, heavily-involved in a number of the biggest group actions in England and Wales, so we can tell you first-hand just how better the American system is.

In the US, they have been able to settle actions far sooner than we have over here. Adopting their practices for large group action cases could be really beneficial in our view.