Is America Exporting Class Actions to Europe?
For years my friends and colleagues have told me that the Europeans just do not sue and litigate like American firms. And I agreed. But that is changing FAST & FURIOUSLY. The Volvo - Mont Blanc incident may have opened the Pandora's box of US style product liability litigation. And there is no return.
In Europe, "product liability claims are [filed] more or less never," says Lars Lidman, general counsel at AB Volvo's Volvo Trucks division in Gothenburg, Sweden. But given the scale of the Mont Blanc disaster, the international news coverage and the number of nationalities involved, Lidman knew this case would be different. After two rounds of court-ordered investigations, Volvo, the Italian and French tunnel operating companies and a dozen individuals faced two rounds of court-appointed investigations and a criminal trial for manslaughter in France. In July 2005 nine individuals and three tunnel operating companies were convicted; of the corporate defendants, only Volvo was acquitted.
"It's a major, major case. It's the first big [product liability] case we've had in Europe," says Lidman. Class actions, in the American sense, don't yet exist in Europe, but the number of parties and the money at stake here give the Mont Blanc litigation a distinctly American flavor. "This case, you could say it is like a class action," says Lidman. Governments across Europe are learning, like Lidman, that the desire to sue en masse is, like most things, not uniquely American.
Europe is hardly in danger of becoming known as Madison County East. Significant barriers to class actions remain. But those barriers are coming down fast and furiously, and for good. Major cases are now pending in Italy and France, and major firms like Parmalat, Microsoft, Boeing, Astra Zeneca, and Ivanna are queuing up to enlist US talent in the litigation wars that are beginning to rage all over Europe.
For continuing coverage including the names of key litigants and issues in the news, watch this space.
Thursday's blog will name names. So subscribe now and receive our special report: "Europe at War with E-Discovery"
In Europe, "product liability claims are [filed] more or less never," says Lars Lidman, general counsel at AB Volvo's Volvo Trucks division in Gothenburg, Sweden. But given the scale of the Mont Blanc disaster, the international news coverage and the number of nationalities involved, Lidman knew this case would be different. After two rounds of court-ordered investigations, Volvo, the Italian and French tunnel operating companies and a dozen individuals faced two rounds of court-appointed investigations and a criminal trial for manslaughter in France. In July 2005 nine individuals and three tunnel operating companies were convicted; of the corporate defendants, only Volvo was acquitted.
"It's a major, major case. It's the first big [product liability] case we've had in Europe," says Lidman. Class actions, in the American sense, don't yet exist in Europe, but the number of parties and the money at stake here give the Mont Blanc litigation a distinctly American flavor. "This case, you could say it is like a class action," says Lidman. Governments across Europe are learning, like Lidman, that the desire to sue en masse is, like most things, not uniquely American.
Europe is hardly in danger of becoming known as Madison County East. Significant barriers to class actions remain. But those barriers are coming down fast and furiously, and for good. Major cases are now pending in Italy and France, and major firms like Parmalat, Microsoft, Boeing, Astra Zeneca, and Ivanna are queuing up to enlist US talent in the litigation wars that are beginning to rage all over Europe.
For continuing coverage including the names of key litigants and issues in the news, watch this space.
Thursday's blog will name names. So subscribe now and receive our special report: "Europe at War with E-Discovery"
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