Class Actions

Companies, financial institutions and governmental bodies increasingly find themselves confronted with mass claims in the Netherlands, often initiated by well-funded claim vehicles. Over the past decade, the Dutch jurisdiction has emerged as a popular hub for such claims, whether in the form of a class action or as a large bundle of claims organised through the assignment model. The introduction of the new Dutch class action regime (Wet afwikkeling massaschade in collectieve actie or WAMCA) has contributed to this trend. 

Furthermore, the Representative Actions Directive empowers European consumers by introducing EU-wide collective redress mechanisms for EU consumer law infringements, further increasing the risk of being confronted with such actions.

Class action litigation: a dynamic of its own

Mass claims bring much publicity and involve high stakes. Therefore, these claims can have a huge impact on the defendant's organisation and its business. The proceedings tend to revolve around a wide array of complex issues. Claimants often add complexity to the matter by targeting not only defendants seated in the Netherlands but also foreign companies with activities in an EU jurisdiction. Claim vehicles and their funders are driven by their business models and tend to design the class as wide as possible, often including members who are resident in a foreign jurisdiction, which may give rise to jurisdiction and applicable law discussions.

A tailored strategy to effectively manage and defend class actions

These dynamics require a thorough understanding of the company's challenges when confronted with a mass claim. Designing a bespoke strategy to get the most favourable result can only be achieved in close cooperation with our clients. Our class actions team is well suited to address these challenges. Over the past two decades, our team has accumulated an impressive amount of experience in handling cases mainly representing foreign and Dutch defendants. We have proved that we are able to master and oversee the complexity in these types of cases. Whether the strategy requires reaching a class settlement, challenging jurisdiction and admissibility or litigating the matter all the way to the Supreme Court, our team offers the full set of skills, capability and experience required for this.