Class Actions in Context: How Culture, Economics and Politics Shape Collective Litigation

In recent years collective litigation procedures have spread across the globe, accompanied by hot controversy and normative debate. Yet virtually nothing is known about how these procedures operate in practice. Based on extensive documentary and interview research, this volume presents the results of the first comparative investigation of class actions and group litigation 'in action'.Produced by a multinational team of legal scholars, this book spans research from ten different countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, including common law and civil law jurisdictions. The contributors conclude that to understand how class actions work in practice, one needs to know the cultural factors that shape claiming, the financial arrangements that enable or impede litigation, and how political actors react when mass claims erupt. Substantive law and procedural rules matter, but culture, economics and politics matter at least as much. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of law, business and politics. It will also be of use to public policy makers looking to respond to mass claims; financial analysts looking to understanding the potential impact of new legal instruments; and global lawyers who litigate transnationally. Contributors: A. Barroilhet, C. Cameron, N. Creutzfeldt, M.A. Gómez, A. Halfmeier, D.R. Hensler, C. Hodges, K.-C. Huang, J. Kalajdzic, A. Klement, B. Stier, E. Thornburg, I. Tzankova, S. Voet

Table of Contents:
Contents: PART I INTRODUCTION 1. The Global Landscape of Collective Litigation Deborah R. Hensler PART II CULTURE 2. The Culture of Collective Litigation: A Comparative Analysis Byron Stier and Ianika Tzankova 3. Smoke Signals from the South: The Unanticipated Effects of an ‘Unsuccesful’ Litigation on Brazil’s Anti-Tobacco Wars Manuel A. Gómez 4. Using Associations as a Vehicle for Class Action: The Case of Taiwan Kuo-Chang Huang 5. The Promise and Peril of Media and Culture: The Toyota Unintended Acceleration Litigation and the Gulf Coast Claims Facility in the United States Byron Stier 6. Collective Redress in Vie d’Or: A Reflection on a European Cultural Phenomenon Ianika Tzankova PART III ECONOMICS 7. Economic Enablers Camille Cameron, Jasminka Kalajdzic and Alon Klement 8. A Class Action ‘Mash-Up’: In Re Royal Dutch/Shell Transport Securities Litigation Deborah R. Hensler 9. Litigation as ‘Core Business’: Analyzing the Access to Justice and Regulatory Dimensions of Commercially Funded Class Actions in Australia Camille Cameron 10. The Class Attorney – An Agent Without a Principle: The Israeli Case of Shemesh V. Reichart Alon Klement 11. The Engine that Drives: Fees, Costs and the Canadian Class Action Jasminka Kalajdzic PART IV POLITICS 12. The Public Dimension of Private Collective Litigation: A Comparative Analysis Deborah R. Hensler and Elizabeth Thornburg 13. Litigation Without End? The Deutsche Telekom Case and the German Approach to Private Enforcement of Securities Law Axel Halfmeier 14. The L&H Case: Belgium’s Internet Bubble Story Stefaan Voet 15. Parallel Public and Private Responses: The Buncefield Explosion Naomi Creutzfeldt and Christopher Hodges 16. Public as Private and Private as Public: MTBE Litigation in the United States Elizabeth Thornburg 17. Self-Interested Gatekeeping? Clashes Between Public and Private Enforcers in two Chilean Class Actions Agustin Barroilhet PART V CONCLUSION 18. Class Action in Context Deborah R. Hensler Index