Climate case Milieudefensie et al. – The Hague District Court orders Shell to reduce CO2 emissions

Climate case Milieudefensie et al. – The Hague District Court orders Shell to reduce CO2 emissions INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY On 26 May 2021, (ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2021:5339) the District Court of The Hague rendered its judgment in ‘the climate case of the century’. An alliance of associations and foundations, together with over 17,000 individual claimants, with Milieudefensie as their representative summoned Royal Dutch … Read more

Klimaatzaak Milieudefensie e.a. – rechtbank beveelt Shell te zorgen voor CO2-reductie

Klimaatzaak Milieudefensie e.a. – rechtbank beveelt Shell te zorgen voor CO2-reductie INLEIDING EN SAMENVATTING Op 26 mei 2021 (ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2021:5337) deed de rechtbank Den Haag uitspraak in ‘de klimaatzaak van de eeuw’. Een alliantie van belangenorganisaties en ruim 17.000 individuele eisers hebben, onder leiding van Milieudefensie, Royal Dutch Shell Plc gevestigd te Den Haag (“RDS”) gedagvaard en kort gezegd een reductie … Read more

Brexit and Private International Law (Part 2 of 2)

Since 1 January 2021, EU regulations simplifying cross-border litigation no longer apply in relation to the UK and – in most cases – to parties based in the UK. While some may have expected the way ahead to have cleared by now, the opposite is in fact true: at the time of writing this blog, neither the EU and UK … Read more

Brexit and Private International Law (Part 1 of 2)

Since 1 January 2021, EU regulations simplifying cross-border litigation no longer apply in relation to the UK and – in most cases – to parties based in the UK. While some may have expected the way ahead to have cleared by now, the opposite is in fact true: at the time of writing this blog, the EU and UK (or … Read more

Dutch court rules that investors suffer investment loss in the market where securities are listed and traded

On 29 January 2020, the Rotterdam District Court ruled on the question of which laws are applicable to the tort claims brought by (former) Petrobras investors against Petrobras (ECLI:NL:RBROT:2020:614). The Court applied the main rule of EU Regulation Rome II (the “Rome II Regulation”), which stipulates that the law applicable to claims in tort is the law of the country … Read more

Calculating future damages from the past, Science Fiction or law?

Introduction Imagine having been blocked from expanding your business in 1975, litigating a claim for lost opportunities for all those years, winning that proceedings on the merits, and then having to start separate legal proceedings to determine the amount of damages to be awarded (schadestaat procedure). How does one value, in 2019, a business opportunity lost in 1975? Background to … Read more

The European Court of Justice recently confirmed that if the EU Damages Directive does not apply, it is up to national rules to enable claimants to effectively claim EU antitrust damages.

In this case, the Court considered that the Portuguese limitation rules (a short limitation period that may start before the victim knows who is liable and that cannot be suspended during the authority’s investigation) made it practically impossible or excessively difficult to obtain compensation, and should therefore be set aside. The Court of Justice clarified these issues when answering preliminary … Read more

Amended governance rules addressing third party funding for collective claim organizations

On 4 March 2019, an amended version of the Dutch “Claimcode” was published. The Claimcode is an instrument of self-regulation, created by parties who are active on the claims market. Like the 2011 original, the 2019 Claimcode contains guidelines for the governance of organizations that pursue collective claims and settlements, aiming to ensure that claim organizations put the interests of … Read more