Quick Read Synopsis

• Published date: 01 March 2009
• Date: 01 March 2009
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0002716208330190
• Subject Matter: Articles

Q

R

S

346 ANNALS, AAPSS, 622, March 2009

QUICK READ SYNOPSIS

The Globalization of Class Actions

Special Editors: DEBORAH R. HENSLER,

Stanford Law School

CHRISTOPHER HODGES,

and

MAGDALENA TULIBACKA

Oxford University

Volume 622, March 2009

Prepared by Herb Fayer, Jerry Lee Foundation

DOI: 10.1177/0002716208330190

The Globalization of Class Actions: An Overview

Deborah R. Hensler, Stanford Law School

Background Around the world, individuals, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and

public officials are turning to courts for remedies for mass harms including

•mass injuries caused by defective products or environmental exposure to

toxic chemicals;

•mass financial losses resulting from violations of antitrust (anticompeti-

tion) law; and

•securities law, consumer protection statutes, and historical and contem-

poraneous civil rights and human rights abuses.

NOTE: The rise of an entrepreneurial plaintiff’s bar provided the engine to

power class actions for money damages and a media-centric mass culture

created an environment in which such litigation could flourish.

Group Litigation By agreeing to represent many individuals in separate lawsuits and then

bundling those lawsuits during the pretrial development process and dur-

ing settlement negotiations, attorneys are able to achieve huge economies

of scale.

•Consolidation of claims also opens the doors to vast numbers of claims of

questionable or of small value seeking a free (or at least inexpensive) ride

to the settlement fund.

•As a consequence, aggregate litigation is likely to settle for a substantially

larger amount of money.