Representing Future Generations - 4th EU Civil Justice Seminar Series
News
Out now: Financing Collective Actions in The Netherlands
The book Financing Collective Actions in the Netherlands: Towards a Litigation Fund? has just been published (Eleven International Publishing 2024) and is available open access. The book is authored by the Rotterdam Vici team members Xandra Kramer and Jos Hoevenaars, and Ianika Tzankova and Karlijn van Doorn (both TilbUniversity). It is an English and updated version of a Study commissioned by the Dutch Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Justice, published in September 2023. It discusses developments in Dutch collective actions from a regulatory perspective, including the implementation of the RAD, and contains a quantitative and qualitative analysis of cases that have been brought under the WAMCA. It examines funding aspects of collective actions from a regulatory, empirical and comparative perspective. It delves into different funding modes, including market developments in third party litigation funding, and addresses the question of the necessity, feasibility, and design of a (revolving) litigation fund for collective actions.
A launch event and webinar will take place on 3 July from 15-17.15 hrs CET. Registration for free here.
Published: June 23, 2021
The Fourth seminar of the EU Civil Justice Seminar Series took place on Thursday July 1st. The seminar focused on the private law aspects of climate litigation. Striking a bridge between his current work on (self)representation in civil justice and past work on strategic litigation and the representation of public interest through law, Jos Hoevenaars brought together a panel to discuss the most recent developments in climate change litigation.
In that context, the recent Milieudefensie/Shell decision of the district court of The Hague signifies a move in climate change litigation from targeting mainly the responsibilities of governments in curtailing the effects of climate change, like in the already famous Urgenda case, to suing corporations, and using the courts to force multinationals to adjust their practices. The panel of speakers discussed the implications the Shell decisions at the crossroads of strategic litigation, collective representation, civil tort law and human rights in climate litigation.
Chantal Mak, professor of Professor of Private law at the Amsterdam Centre for Transformative Private Law (ACT) analyzed the Shell decisions and highlighted the human rights angle of climate change litigation. Professor Geert van Calster, Head of the department of European and international law at the University of Leuven, gave an overview of the private international law aspects of climate change litigation. And finally, Sanne Biesmans, PhD candidate at the Business Law Institute of the Radboud University Nijmegen, analysed the Shell decision from a corporate liability perspective and sketched a future outlook for corporations and how this decision may affect their practices going forward.
The seminar was very well-attended, with some 65 participants joining for the subsequent discussions.