Class action lawsuit

Seanachai

Are class action lawsuits available in Ireland?

infogiver

Seanachai wrote: »

Are class action lawsuits available in Ireland?

No

GM228

infogiver wrote: »

Seanachai wrote: »

Are class action lawsuits available in Ireland?

No

Yes would be more like it.

A "class action" suit is basically the US term for a representative action or multiparty action. In Ireland we can indeed have such actions, they are not common (but starting to become more common) and are known as Representative Actions or Joinder Actions (it's also possible to have Consolidated Actions, but they are not quite the same) and have been possible in Ireland since 1873, some 65 years before class actions in the US, the US model is based on the English model which is the origin of our model too.

infogiver

GM228 wrote: »

Yes would be more like it.

A "class action" suit is basically the US term for a representative action or multiparty action. In Ireland we can indeed have such actions, they are not common (but starting to become more common) and are known as Representative Actions or Joinder Actions (it's also possible to have Consolidated Actions, but they are not quite the same) and have been possible in Ireland since 1873, some 65 years before class actions in the US, the US model is based on the English model which is the origin of our model too.

So no we don't have class actions is in fact the answer.

Peregrinus

infogiver wrote: »

So no we don't have class actions is in fact the answer.

No, the answer is that we do have class actions; we just don't call them "class actions".

plodder

There's a law reform commission report on class actions (2003) which says that representative actions in Ireland can't be founded on tort. That would be a fairly severe restriction if it's still the case, and is probably the kind of scenario that people have in mind when they talk about class actions. Is that still the case?

I can think of a lot of potential cases (eg the banks taking people off tracker mortgages) that could have been good candidates for a class action, but obviously weren't. I believe there are other practical restrictions on them separate from that.

GM228

plodder wrote: »

There's a law reform commission report on class actions (2003) which says that representative actions in Ireland can't be founded on tort. That would be a fairly severe restriction if it's still the case, and is probably the kind of scenario that people have in mind when they talk about class actions. Is that still the case?

I can think of a lot of potential cases (eg the banks taking people off tracker mortgages) that could have been good candidates for a class action, but obviously weren't. I believe there are other practical restrictions on them separate from that.

It is still the case, the recommendations of the report where not acted on.

It is sill a restriction of the CC rules - but was never a restriction in the SC rules, that restriction was held by the Supreme Court based on English case law at the time, but representative actions can in theory be founded in tort where relief sought is declaratory or injunctive.

plodder

GM228 wrote: »

It is still the case, the recommendations of the report where not acted on.

It is sill a restriction of the CC rules - but was never a restriction in the SC rules, that restriction was held by the Supreme Court based on English case law at the time, but representative actions can in theory be founded in tort where relief sought is declaratory or injunctive.

Doesn't seem like there would be much point to a class action, if only declaratory or injunctive relief is being sought.