European Plaintiffs Pursue U.S. Lawsuits
Although tentative steps are being made toward creating U.S.-style plaintiffs litigation opportunities in Europe, including class actions and shareholder cases, there are still substantial barriers to pursuing such cases there.
The real news is that American courts, which clearly offer plaintiffs better litigation opportunities, are increasingly open to hearing cases that involve foreign parties, writes attorney David Greene in an article in today’s London Times. Given the American rule on litigation costs (each side pays its own, in contrast to the common European practice of charging the loser for the winner’s legal fees), as well as the availability of contingency attorney fees and high damages in the U.S., claimants who have a choice between suing in America or Europe should routinely opt for U.S. jurisdiction.
And, in an increasingly global economy, “scope for some U.S. connection”—upon which jurisdiction over foreign parties is based—“is significant,” says Greene, a partner who heads the litigation department at Edwin Coe. The American plaintiffs bar has not been slow to recognize this fact, he notes, and “is showing a keen interest in recruiting claimants in the U.K. The aim is not to develop claims in Europe, but to export claims in which the U.S. courts are accepting jurisdiction.”
