Mark Allsopp v Bayerische Motoren Werke Akteingesellschaft & Ors
[2023] EWHC 2710 (KB)
Various Claimants v Mercedes-Benz & Ors
8 December 2023
[2023] EWHC 3173 (KB)
High Court
A huge lawsuit about car emissions has been filed. The court is trying to manage it efficiently so it doesn't cost too much money and take forever. They're going to have a big meeting in March to figure out the best way to handle all the cases. They've also agreed to a faster way to deal with some of the groups of cases
Key Facts
- •Over 1 million claimants and over 1500 defendants in the NOx Emissions Group Litigation.
- •Unprecedented scale of litigation involving complex legal, factual, and technical issues.
- •Potential costs are enormous and risk becoming disproportionate to recoverable sums.
- •Risk of unacceptable burden on court resources and access to justice.
- •Disagreement on whether to repurpose a scheduled hearing for pan-NOx emissions CMC or proceed with the Mercedes litigation as the lead case.
- •Claimant Group prioritized advancing the Mercedes litigation with a sample of vehicles.
- •Defendant Group proposed determining common pan-NOx issues before investigating specific cases.
Legal Principles
Active case management is essential in large-scale litigation to control costs and ensure efficient use of court resources.
Inherent jurisdiction of the court
Procedural fairness must be considered in managing large-scale litigation.
Implied in the court's inherent powers
Group Litigation Orders (GLOs) are likely to be appropriate in this litigation.
Judge's opinion
Outcomes
The March Hearing will determine the scope and content of currently timetabled hearings.
To allow for appropriate information and granularity to proceed effectively.
No firm decisions were made on the content of existing trial periods.
All options remain open for consideration at the March hearing.
All existing and prospective GLO applications will be heard in a consolidated hearing.
To streamline the process and manage the large number of applications.
The Ford litigation GLO was approved.
Not explicitly stated, but implied by the overall decision to approve GLOs.