Amsterdam court issued the first ever judgment in a Dutch commercial class action

The Amsterdam District Court has issued the first ever judgment in a Dutch commercial class action brought under the WAMCA collective actions regime. A EUR 400 million Dutch class action has been thrown out by the court in a pivotal case that throws up questions about the region's WAMCA collective damages regime. This is the first judgment made in a Dutch commercial WAMCA class action. Introduced in January 2020, the Act on Redress of Mass Damages in Collective Action (WAMCA) was designed to widen access to justice for wronged parties.

In an article on the website of platform Commercial Dispute Resolution Bart-Adriaan de Ruijter (Partner Corporate Litigation at CMS in the Netherlands) said the case is noteworthy when considering the earlier hurdles the foundation had overcome. ''Last year, during the preliminary certification phase, the foundation was held admissible in its EUR 400 million collective claim, which was interesting. It made the first big hurdle. There is limited case law on this phase, but this shows the strict approach on commercial claim vehicles on representativity, financing and profit model, and more lenient approach on pro bono. But the specific facts of the case were not strong enough to secure a win."

"This was the first judgment on the merits and the foundation lost on this occasion. But I think this case stands alone and you must see this as a first pancake of the Dutch class adion system. The first pancake is always a bit messy. The good pancakes will follow in the coming years," de Ruijter adds.

Read more: Dutch court hands down precedent-setting class actions ruling