Collective action explained

Group litigation is the legal term used in the UK to describe collective legal action brought by a group of claimants that have been affected by an occurrence in the same way, whether it be negligence, an incident or other cause. Those actions are often brought against large companies or corporations.

You may have heard these referred to as ‘class actions’, but contrary to popular belief, that term is only correct when used in the US legal system and a few other jurisdictions around the world.

If you’ve suffered losses or injury as a direct result of the behaviour of a large company - and you’re aware that many others have suffered in a similar fashion - you may be able to join or even instigate group litigation to help you pool your resources with others.

We believe that collective action is a major asset to the justice system, as without it, many people with perfectly valid complaints might be unable or unwilling to risk taking a big corporation to court.

Collective action helps to put you on a level playing field by boosting the financial resources available to help fight your corner; spreading the risk of losing across many people or organisations that are in the same situation as you.

That’s just one of the reasons that we like working with groups. Even if your case doesn’t meet the criteria that would lead to a court granting a group litigation order, we may be able to treat you as a group to help deliver the benefits of sharing risk, resources and knowledge.

To find out more, call us on 0161 830 9632 or contact us and we’ll call you.

What are the advantages of a collective action?

There are numerous advantages to forming or joining a collective action; but the three most important are that:

• Legal advice and documentation can be shared with other claimants and the cost of obtaining advice can be spread across the whole group. If each case were to be litigated individually, each individual person or organisation would need to obtain and pay for their own advice.

• By coming together as a group, the risk that you might have to pay the other side’s costs can be reduced. That’s because collective action funding arrangements can be put in place to reduce costs risks, which tend to be significantly more favourable than those available to individuals.

• It’s best practice for individual test cases to be selected from within the group and funded jointly by all members. This makes for the most cost-effective use of resources, yet still enables every member of the group to benefit from favourable decisions.

If you would like to talk about joining a collective action or seeking a group litigation order to help you tackle a big corporation or organisation on a level playing field, talk to one of our experienced collective action solicitors today.

Call us on 0161 830 9632 or contact us and we’ll call you.