The key question facing European policy-makers is how to enable collective redress proceedings without producing the undesirable consequences that are associated with the U.S. class action model. How is it possible to find the balance between providing compensation for legitimate claims and preventing unmeritorious claims? If the system encourages the vast majority of claims to be settled, how can it avoid the ‘blackmail effect’, which means it will be cheaper for defendants to settle unmeritorious claims than to fight them? How is it possible to avoid excessive transactional costs? etc. In this report, it is considered that one of the of the important safeguards against the abuses of the U.S. class action system could be the active role of the court in collective redress litigation. Research is needed to see what concrete judicial powers are the most important in that respect. This report tries to achieve this challenge. The first part of the report consists in a comparative analysis of national rules and case law in six Member States (United Kingdom (England & Wales), Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) to identify which powers of the court in a collective redress trial ensure fair proceedings for both parties and act as safeguards against potential abuses of the system. Cases have been selected to illustrate the issues that arise and some of the creative solutions that have been applied so far by the courts at each stage of a collective redress procedure. The second part of this report aims at looking ahead to ways in which recommendations for an optimal balanced framework for a European collective redress mechanism would be formulated. The result of the case analyses set out in this report attempts to demonstrate whether the European Union might be able to introduce an attractive approach towards collective redress which builds on previous knowledge by fusing different national approaches and provides benefits to consumers, competitors and the economy, without harmful risks.

This open access book offers an analytical presentation of how Europe has created its own version of collective actions. In the last three decades, Europe has seen a remarkable proliferation of collective action legislation, making class actions the most successful export product of the American legal scholarship. While its spread has been surrounded by distrust and suspiciousness, today more than half of the EU Member States have introduced collective actions for damages and from those who did, more than half chose, to some extent, the opt-out system.This book demonstrates why collective actions have been felt needed from the perspective of access to justice and effectiveness of law, the European debate and the deep layers of the European reaction and resistance, revealing how the Copernican turn of class actions questions the fundamentals of the European thinking about market and public interest. Using a transsystemic presentation of the European national models, it analyzes the way collective actions were accommodated with the European regulatory environment, the novel and peculiar regulatory questions they had to address and how and why they work differently on this side of the Atlantic.

Private Enforcement Context and Project Background /Barry Rodger --Institutions and Mechanisms to Facilitate Private Enforcement /Barry Rodger --The Empirical Data Part 1: Methodology, Case Law, Courts and Processes /Barry Rodger --The Empirical Data Part 2: Provisions Relied Upon, Remedies and Success /Barry Rodger --Collective Redress Mechanisms and Consumer Case Law /Barry Rodger --Comparing Economic Incentives across EU Member States /Morten Hviid & John Peysner --A View from across the Atlantic: Recent Developments in the Case Law of the US Federal Courts on Class Certification in Antitrust Cases /Arianna Andreangeli --Fast, Effective and Low Cost Redress: How Do Public and Private Enforcement and ADR Compare? /Christopher Hodge --Concluding Remarks /Barry Rodger.

This report aims at demonstrating that the success of a balanced European collective redress mechanism could mainly rely on one single person: the judge. To achieve this challenge, the report evaluates the role of the judiciary in 6 European Member States.

Not so long ago, class actions were considered to be a textbook example of American exceptionalism; many of their main features were assumed to be incompatible with the culture of the civil law world. However, the tide is changing; while there are now trends in the USA toward limiting or excluding class actions, notorious cases like Dieselgate are moving more and more European jurisdictions to extend the reach of their judicial collective redress mechanisms. For many new fans of class actions, collective redress has become a Holy Grail of sorts, a miraculous tool that will rejuvenate national systems of civil justice and grant them unprecedented power. Still, while the introduction of various forms of representative action has virtually become a fashion, it is anything but certain that attempting to transplant American-style class action will be successful. European judicial structures and legal culture(s) are fundamentally different, which poses a considerable challenge. This book investigates whether class actions in Europe are indeed a Holy Grail or just another wrong turn in the continuing pursuit of just and effective means of protecting the rights of citizens and businesses. It presents both positive and critical perspectives, supplemented by case studies on the latest collectivization trends in Europe’s national civil justice systems. The book also shares the experiences of some non-European jurisdictions that have developed promising hybrid forms of collective redress, such as Canada, Brazil, China, and South Africa. In closing, a selection of topical international cases that raise interesting issues regarding the effectiveness of class actions in an international context are studied and discussed.

Written by leading authorities in the field of European civil procedure and collective redress, this timely book explores the model collective proceedings rules in the ELI/UNDROIT European Rules of Civil Procedure. It explains the intended application of this ‘best practice’ set of collective redress rules, intended to promote greater consistency in civil and commercial court procedure across Europe, linking to existing European practice and initiatives in the field.

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

This book examines the principal trends and policy goals relating to collective redress mechanisms in Europe. It identifies three principal areas in which procedures and debates have emerged: within consumer protection and competition law, and from some national court systems. It identifies differing national models of public and private enforcement in consumer protection law in the Member States, and the search for more efficient and inclusive procedures that would deliver increased access to justice and enhanced compliance with desired standards (arguably through deterrence). A sequence of case studies illustrates the pros and cons of differing models. Lessons are also drawn from the experience of class actions in the USA over the transactional costs of private law mechanisms, and adverse economic consequences. The various policy strands are unravelled and prioritised, and options for the future are recommended. The American 'private enforcement' model is contrasted with the more prevalent European public and mediated enforcement tradition. New developments involving Ombudsmen and oversight of compensation by public enforcement bodies are identified, and underlying theories of restorative justice and responsive regulation discussed. Public, private, formal, informal, ADR and voluntary methodologies are evaluated against criteria, and it is concluded that the optimal options for collective redress in Europe involve a combination of approaches, with priority given to public and voluntary solutions over private court-based mechanisms. "Reform of collective redress is the hottest topic in European civil justice today. Dr. Hodges, one of the world's leading experts in the field, provides a deeply informed evaluation of the current debates. Illustrative case studies drawn from both consumer protection and competition areas enrich and ground his provocative analysis of the complex issues at stake making this a "must-have" book for every practitioner, academic and policy-maker in the field". Professor Jane Stapleton, Australian National University, and University of Texas, Austin.

European Rules of Civil Procedure sets out a clear examination of the rules adopted by UNDROIT and the European Law Institute in 2020. Presented within a systematic structure to aid enhanced academic understanding, it precisely showcases the substantial comparative knowledge of its authors.

The Research Handbook on Private Enforcement of Competition Law in the EU provides wide-ranging coverage of a key aspect of competition law enforcement which is undergoing constant and rapid growth in significance. The Handbook examines the private enforcement of competition law across the EU and beyond, shedding light on pertinent and underlying issues.