by Dr. Christoph Baus, Tim Wybitul and Stefan Patzer

Recent developments in the area of collective redress will redefine the litigation landscape in Germany and throughout Europe.

Mass actions have been on the rise throughout Europe for some time. In 2020, the balance clearly tipped towards a more plaintiff-friendly environment. Most importantly, the EU passed a new directive on representative actions that will implement an EU-wide collective redress regime. Traditional mass actions have spiked, too, and a particular area of focus for many companies should be GDPR-related claims, a segment of the market that saw a number of troublesome judgments in 2020. Finally, legal tech companies and litigation funding received a big boost from the German Federal Court of Justice (FCJ), and now the German lawmakers is getting involved.