Group Actions

EU & Competition LawOver the past 20 years members of Henderson Chambers have been instructed in most of the leading group actions issued in the English courts. Henderson Chambers has been at the forefront of the development of the law and practice in relation to group litigation orders and group actions, as well as representative actions and other collective redress actions.

The group actions that members of Chambers have acted in cover a wide range of different types of claim, including: product liability claims; environmental and pollutions claims; group actions arising out of large accidents and disasters; group actions brought by foreign nationals against UK registered companies; collective competition claims; group actions brought by consumers and under the Consumer Credit Act; data protection actions; group actions in respect of industrial disease litigation; employees claiming wrongful dismissal due to defective technology relied upon by the employer; group actions in respect of historic physical, sexual and financial abuse and group actions arising out of the mis-selling of financial and other products. Members of Chambers have become expert in advising in relation to the obtaining of group litigation orders, the structure and management of group actions, and in relation to the funding of group actions.

Several members of Chambers are engaged in writing the second edition of Multi-Party Actions, edited by Prof C. Hodges and Geraint Webb QC.

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Expertise

Major domestic and international group actions
Advising in relation to applications for Group Litigation Orders and associated issues in relation to the management of group actions
VW NOx Diesel Emissions litigation
Vedanta in environmental claims arising out of a Copper mine in Zambia
Unilever in claims arising out of election violence in Kenya
Product liability and consumer claims against manufacturers in the Metal on Metal hip litigation
Commercial claims against The Post Office, featured in The Lawyer's Top 20 cases of 2018
GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical claims in the Seroxat Litigation
Google Data breach class action
The environment Colombian Pipeline Litigation
Shell in the environment Bomu-Bonny Pipeline Litigation

Representative cases

grid list

AAA & Others v Unilever PLC [2018] EWCA Civ 1532

AAA & Others v Unilever PLC

Jurisdiction decision, the Court of Appeal (Lady Justice Gloster, Lord Justice Sales and Lord Justice Newey) has decided that Unilever’s Kenyan subsidiary should not face claims in England and Wales based on injuries suffered by visitors to and on its tea plantation in Kenya (arising out of Post- Election Violence, at the hands of third parties, in 2007.)
VW NOx Diesel Emissions litigation

Group action arising from noxious car emissions
The Post Office Group Litigation (TCC)

One of The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases, Civil Litigation Brief ‘case of the year’ 2019

Representing over 500 current and former postmasters in a widely publicised Group Action against Post Office to recover business losses said to result from failures in Post Office’s Horizon electronic point of sales (EPOS) and accounting system. Widely reported: BBC, Daily Mail, FT and Joshua Rozenberg.

Leading judgment ([2019] EWHC 606) on the developing field of relational contracts and duties of good faith in commercial contracts and on range of other complex contractual and agency issues. Successful judgment following trial of IT expert issues in 2019 ([2019] EWHC 3408). Further judgment ([2019] EWHC 871) with respect to failed application by Post Office to recuse a Managing Judge in Group Litigation.
Google Data Breach Class Action

Google Data Breach Class Action

A representative action on behalf of approximately 5.4 million iPhone users issued against Google November 2017.
DePuy Pinnacle Metal on Metal hip litigation [2018] EWHC 1208 (QB)

DePuy Pinnacle Metal on Metal hip litigation

In a decision that will be very influential for other metal on metal claims, on 21 May 2018 judgment was given in favour of the defendant DePuy International Limited on preliminary issues in the DePuy Pinnacle Metal on Metal group litigation.
Ocensa Pipeline Group Litigation [2016] EWHC 1699 (TCC)

Ocensa Pipeline Group Litigation

Colombian Farmers / OCENSA Pipeline litigation: Defending oil pipe nuisance, environmental and property damage claim in Colombia.

Following a 4 ½ month Trial in the TCC, the defence was successful and all of the Lead Cases were dismissed.