Monash Law in Europe, Osgoode Hall Law School Units

Comparative Class Actions Outline

Unit Code

Osgoode Hall unit taught in Prato (exchange).

Credit Points

6

Location

Prato

Unit Summary

A critical analysis of how various jurisdictions (including Australia) permit or encourage the aggregation of claims by multiple claimants through class or group actions. The major focus will be the “lawyer entrepreneur” class action model adopted in Canada, the USA and Australia. This model will be compared with group action devices in use in the UK, Sweden and Brazil.

Recurring issues will be:

1. Are class actions a good or a bad thing?
2. Why do courts seem to have difficulty “approving” of many class actions?
3. How do we afford access to justice for individually non- viable claims in the absence of class or group actions?
4. Can class or group action regimes not employing a “lawyer entrepreneur”
5. model effectively do the job?

Teacher

Gary Watson

Assessment

Exam

Reading Materials

Reading materials will be distributed.