Collective and Mass Litigation in Europe: Model Rules for Effective Dispute Resolution

398 Pages·2020·4.572 MB·English

by  Astrid Stadler (editor), Emmanuel Jeuland (editor), Vincent Smith (editor)

Collective and Mass Litigation in Europe

Collective and Mass
Litigation in Europe
Model Rules for Effective Dispute Resolution
Edited by
Astrid Stadler
Professor and Chair in Civil Law, Procedural Law and Private
International Law, and Comparative Law, University of
Konstanz, Germany
Emmanuel Jeuland
Director, Sorbonne Institute of Legal Research and
Professor of Private and Criminal Law, University of Paris
I Pantheon-Sorbonne, France
Vincent Smith
Assistant Professor, ESCP Business School, UK and France;
Visiting Fellow, British Institute of International and
Comparative Law UK; Solicitor (England and Wales)
Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA
© Editors and Contributors Severally 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or
photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Published by
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
The Lypiatts
15 Lansdown Road
Cheltenham
Glos GL50 2JA
UK
Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.
William Pratt House
9 Dewey Court
Northampton
Massachusetts 01060
USA
A catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020942837
This book is available electronically in the
Law subject collection
http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781789906059
ISBN 978 1 78990 604 2 (cased)
ISBN 978 1 78990 605 9 (eBook)
2
0
Contents
List of contributors xiii
1 General introduction 1
Astrid Stadler, Emmanuel Jeuland and Vincent Smith
1 European Rules of Civil Procedure 1
2 Background to the ELI/UNIDROIT Project 2
3 Collective Redress in the ERCP 3
4 Overview of this Study on Parties and Collective Redress 4
2 The concept of ‘party’ 7
Emmanuel Jeuland
1 Parties to the Proceedings 7
1.1 Public and private relationships 9
1.2 Capacity to possess a right 12
1.3 Litigation capacity 13
1.4 Parties in the public interest 14
1.5 Prospective parties 16
2 Do Natural Entities Have Litigation Capacity? 16
3 Do Robots and Other ‘Artificially Intelligent’
Machines Have Capacity to Litigate? 26
4 Conclusion 30
3 Joinder, consolidation and group claims 31
Vincent Smith
1 Introduction: What This Chapter is About 31
2 Joinder of Parties to an Action 34
2.1 Voluntary joinder 36
2.2 Necessary joinder (Rule 38) 39
3 Consolidation of Existing Claims (Rule 37) 42
4 Intervenors in an Action 44
4.1 Principal intervenors (Rule 39) and Amici
Curiae (Rules 35 and 43) 44
v
vi Collective and mass litigation in Europe
4.2 Intervenors in support of a party 47
5 Group Claims 51
5.1 Distinction between group claim and
collective proceedings 52
5.2 Types of group claims: test cases, common issues 53
5.3 The ‘opt-in’ principle and group claims 56
5.4 Case management: contrasting collective and
group claims 59
6 Remedies and Settlements in Group Claims 60
7 Conclusions on Multi-Party Proceedings 63
4 Change of parties: representation, substitution, assignment 66
Emmanuel Jeuland
1 Representation and Mass Claims 67
1.1 Representation of natural persons 67
1.2 Legal persons and other entities 69
1.3 General rules on representation 70
2 Intervention to Help a Party or the Judge 71
2.1 Intervention in support 71
2.2 Amicus Curiae: a friend to the court 73
3 Substitution of Parties 74
3.1 Substitution when commencing an action 75
3.2 Substitution during the proceedings 78
4 Succession and Assignment of Claims 79
5 Other Procedural Tools 84
5 Introduction: collective redress 88
Astrid Stadler, Emmanuel Jeuland and Vincent Smith
1 ERCP Collective Redress in Context 88
2 The Collective Redress Rules Within the ELI/
UNIDROIT Project 91
2.1 Structure and terminology 91
2.2 Three pillars of collective redress 92
2.3 How the commentary is arranged 94
6 Types of claim, structure and certification of collective
proceedings 95
Astrid Stadler
Contents vii
1 Types of Claim Available in Collective Redress Proceedings 95
1.1 General principles 95
1.2 Skimming off illegally gained profit 96
1.3 Damages actions 96
1.4 Disgorgement proceedings 97
2 Approach in the ERCP Collective Redress Rules 100
3 Standalone Actions for Injunctions to Stop Illegal Practices 102
4 Structure of Collective Proceedings Under the ERCP 103
4.1 Preparatory stage – attempt to settle the case 104
4.2 Registration of the claim 107
4.3 Proceedings connected with certification 108
4.4 Certification of the collective redress action 110
5 Structure of Standalone Proceedings for Declaring
a Settlement Binding 121
5.1 Comparative background 121
5.2 Standing to negotiate settlements 123
5.3 Structure of settlement proceedings 124
7 Legal standing in collective redress 127
Ianika Tzankova
1 Collective Redress Design 127
1.1 Introduction to design basics 127
1.2 Basic models of legal standing in collective redress 128
1.3 Overview of discussion in this chapter 129
2 Agency Issues Under the Basic Approaches 129
2.1 The individual claimant model 130
2.2 The institutional claimant model 133
2.3 Concluding remarks on agency and incentives 141
3 Legal Standing Under the ERCP Collective Redress Rules 142
4 Legal Standing in Collective Redress at EU Level 143
4.1 Legal standing for collective redress in the
2013 Recommendation 144
4.2 Legal standing in the 2018 draft Directive 145
4.3 Concluding remarks 147
5 Parallel Actions 147
5.1 Parallel actions at national level 148
5.2 Cross-border issues: the Steinhoff example 149
viii Collective and mass litigation in Europe
6 Concluding Remarks 152
8 Case management and the role of the judge 153
Magne Strandberg and Vincent Smith
1 ERCP and Active Case Management: Background
and Sources of Inspiration 153
2 The Nature, Justification and Principles of Rules on
Case Management 157
2.1 What is case management? 157
2.2 Justification for rules on case management 159
2.3 Principles of active case management 161
3 Special Challenges for the Application of Rules on
Case Management in Collective Proceedings 164
3.1 Interplay between general and special rules 164
3.2 Choice of procedural track 164
3.3 Case management decisions and the role of
group members 166
4 Additional Case Management for Collective Actions 169
4.1 Acting in the interests of group members 169
4.2 Enforcement of rules against qualified entities 173
4.3 Keeping the group and others informed 175
4.4 Distribution of compensation 178
5 Conclusions 180
9 Evidence in collective redress proceedings under the ERCP 182
Fernando Gascón Inchausti
1 Interplay Between General Provisions on Evidence
and Specific Rules on Collective Redress 182
1.1 Rules on collective redress and general
provisions on evidence 182
1.2 The ERCP rules on access to information and
evidence 183
1.3 Access to evidence: proportionality and
efficiency as overriding principles 185
2 Impact of the General Rules on Evidence on
Collective Proceedings 187
2.1 General provisions 187
2.2 Issues concerning the management of evidence 192
Contents ix
3 Access to Information and Evidence Held by the
Opponent or a Third Party: Disclosure System in
Collective Proceedings? 197
3.1 Parties 199
3.2 Time 200
3.3 Procedure 201
3.4 Criteria to obtain an order for access to evidence 202
3.5 Implementation and sanctions 205
3.6 Costs and security 206
4 Types of Evidence 207
4.1 Admissibility of written testimony 207
4.2 Flexible approach to expertise 208
5 Conclusions 210
10 Calculating compensation in collective redress claims 211
Nils von Hinten-Reed
1 Editors’ Note 211
2 Introduction 212
3 Damages Quantification 215
3.1 Introduction 215
3.2 The Commission’s practical guide 216
3.3 Issues in damages quantification 217
4 Example: UK Collective Action Cases 220
4.1 Introduction 220
4.2 Gibson v Pride Mobility Scooters 222
4.3 Merricks v MasterCard 225
5 Pass-On 228
6 Sub-Classes 229
6.1 Gibson v Pride Mobility 229
6.2 Merricks v MasterCard 230
7 Distribution Methods 230
8 Certification Issues and Conclusions 231
11 Collective settlements 233
Astrid Stadler
1 Introduction 233
2 Rules on Settlements in the ERCP 236