Fifty-nine percent of respondents to the poll, carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by US law firm Bryan Cave, said they expected to see collective litigation take root in the UK over the next three years.
Over half (59%) of the 240 participants in the poll said they expected consumer goods companies to be targeted in particular, with two-thirds (67%) highlighting product liability as a key area.
Commenting on the findings,
He said: “The results of this research paint a sobering picture for European companies, especially in the UK. Businesses that have not examined their contingency plans for such legal action could be placing themselves at great risks, especially as plaintiffs’ lawyers are getting better at deploying evidence across jurisdictions.”
The results come after US class action specialist Cohen Milstein Hausfeld & Toll – which is currently leading a class action in the US against Virgin for its involvement in a price-fixing scandal over fuel surcharges – said it was considering starting the UK’s first collective action, with a number of supermarkets and dairies set to be targeted over alleged price-fixing.
In September the Office of Fair Trading held a hearing on proposals that would allow for US-style class actions to take place in the
