Group actions in the US – or “class actions” as they’re referred to across the pond – can consist of thousands or even millions of victims claiming for similar issues. In America, there are practically always class actions going on for all sorts of things, ranging from medical and product liability suits, to employee rights cases and data breach litigation.
Its massive over there. The question now is whether the UK is set to follow suit or not in operating in a similar way to the US.
The UK has passed a fair amount of legislation in recent times that could facilitate US-style class action lawsuits. Changes to competition laws and “opt-out” actions, given that we historically have “opt-in” actions, could put us more in-line with our American cousins.
The rights for victims who have been wronged are already enshrined in law. If we can allow for a more efficient process in the UK that’s similar to what the US has, this isn’t a bad thing at all. We have the facility to form group actions to minimise the use of court time and costs, and make the process quicker for all, but our actions are still far lengthier.
In the US, they have actually been looking at how they can make their own class action processes more efficient to allow for quicker settlements. We could at least catch up a little in the meantime to see if we can make our own processes quicker as well.
One of the current ones that is making use of recent changes in the law is the “Google You Owe Us” lawsuit which is one of the pioneers in the UK utilising the “opt-out” system. The “opt-out” system means people literally have to op-out of claiming as opposed to opting in. This approach can allow for more victims to get the access to justice that they deserve as opposed to missing deadlines and not opting in before court deadlines.
It’s a step in the right direction in our view. Just look at how quickly the US Volkswagen Emissions Scandal claims have settled.
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