We have tracked the proceedings brought by investors against Porsche for damages allegedly suffered when Porsche attempted to take over Volkswagen over the last couple of years, and followed the journey of these claims through courts in London, New York, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Braunschweig and Hannover. Now, at least a substantial part of these proceedings ended up in yet another German court, namely in the Court of Appeals (Oberlandesgericht) Celle. Read More
Category: Class Actions
“Happy Birthday to You” – Royalty-free
European lawyers, and German lawyers in particular, love to make fun of U.S. litigation, and class actions in particular (and are highly sceptical of any plans to introduce them in Europe). But if there ever is one such thing, this may just be the one class action everybody loves. “Good Morning to You Productions Corp”. seeks to declare invalid the copyright claim of Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. for “Happy Birthday to You” and reclaim the world’s most popular song for the public. Read More
EU Commission Recommendation on Collective Redress Mechanism
The European Commission has come out today with its communication “Towards a European Horizontal Framework for Collective Redress” and its recommendation “on common principles for injunctive and compensatory collective redress mechanisms in the Member States concerning violations of rights granted under Union Law”. These horizontal instrumens are complemented by a draft directive regarding “damages under national law for infringements of the competition law provisions of the Member States and of the European Union”. Read More
Germany’s Mini-Madoff: Barclays Sued in Frankfurt, Munich under Revised KapMuG
According to press reports, some sixty retail investors are suing Barclays in Frankfurt over certificates issued by Barclays that related to Helmut Kiener’s Ponzi scheme. Similar actions are being brought in Munich. If I am not mistaken, then this is the first large-scale litigation where the German plaintiff bar tries to establish a model procedure under the extended scope of the revised Capital Market Investors’ Model Proceedings Act (KapMuG) that came into force in November 2012 – or perhaps even the first one overall. Read More