Multi-Party Actions and Complex Litigation in England

Abstract

This article considers (i) complex civil litigation in general and (ii) multi-party litigation. Both are examined from an English perspective. As for (ii) there are dangers in adopting an `opt out’ system: potentially aggressive attempts to bring collective litigation; the prospect of very large gains being made by law firms; the fear of commercial and public entities being exposed to expensive and protracted litigation; inevitable increases in the cost of potential defendants’ defensive measures; in particular, consumers and businesses paying more for insurance cover. The 2009 British Government had no stomach for collective big money litigation, because it rejected a generic opt-out class action for damages. Such a generic opt-out class action for damages would have involved claimants’ rights being championed by the joint enterprise of law firms (including foreign firms fishing in England for work) and commercial funders (or syndicates of funders) interested in profiting from others’ litigation. Instead England operates the Group Litigation Order system, introduced in 2000, which is an `opt-in’ mechanism. There are no limits on that system, which can embrace any type of civil claim. Part of a collection entitled 'Contract Law and Civil Justice Special Issues In Memory of Kurt Lipstein', edited by M Andenas, N Andrews and M Tamaruya. This paper and related papers have been accepted for publication and will appear in one of two special series in European Business Law Review (2011)(papers on contract) and (2012) (papers on procedure and civil justice).