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Armageddon Through Aggregation: The Use And Abuse Of Class Actions In International Dispute Resolution, Richard O. Faulk

Richard Faulk

A troubling and dangerous phenomenon has emerged onto the international litigation landscape. The system of justice understood and appreciated by citizens in most democratic states — one which guarantees individual plaintiffs and defendants their “day in court” — is increasingly being sidestepped by procedural rules that allow entrepreneurial lawyers to aggregate claims into massive controversies that are, for all practical purposes, untriable. Although these enormous cases arise in varying formats, they share a single intimidating characteristic: the designed imposition of enormous and intolerable risks which defendants cannot prudently accept by insisting on their “day in court” in a jury trial. …