The value of class action claims in the UK rose for an eighth year in a row, even as the overall number of claims in Europe declined, according to a report by CMS.
The CMS European Class Action Report 2025 highlighted that total UK claims hit an equivalent of almost €155bn last year, up from nearly €143bn in 2023. Last year’s claims were split equally between opt-in and opt-out claims, compared to 2023 when €76bn were opt-ins and €67bn were opt-outs.
However, the number of new actions filed fell to 33, down from 39 in 2023 and 74 in 2020, with 56 cases being filed at the regime’s launch in 2015, many of which were later consolidated, and a small number withdrawn.
The report also highlighted that more than 655 million class members were involved in actions in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) at the end of 2024, equivalent to almost 10 class actions for every person in the country.
The claims were predominantly focused on the natural resources and energy sector (€47.4bn), followed by large technology companies including Google and Apple (€36.5bn), as well as financial products (€28.1bn), as demonstrated by the ongoing interchange litigation. Claims related to auto industry clients amounted to €18.1bn.
Consumer law and competition law-related claims – like the Merricks litigation, which settled earlier this year, albeit controversially – amounted to €82.7bn, while environmental claims came to €43.7bn. Dieselgate-related litigation was valued at €14.4bn.
The report found opt-in quantum growth had been steady, with increases in opt-out quantum growth mainly resulting from competition class actions in the CAT, with most growth occurring after 2021. It noted broad parity between the values of opt-in and opt-out class actions, with opt-in actions marginally ahead, thanks to the impact of the long-running Mariana Dam group action litigation.
Across the UK, the Netherlands and Portugal, opt-out claims grew from €18.5bn in 2020 to €168bn in 2024, reflecting the comparative legislative support given by those jurisdictions for class actions since the EU Class Actions Directive was passed pre-Brexit.
Overall, class action claims are declining in Europe, with 97 issued last year compared to 135 in 2023, broadly split between opt-in and opt-out claims at 53 to 44. Claims against large technology majors (€17.9bn) and aviation (€41.8bn) dominated the Dutch and Portuguese markets, the latter responsible for 27% of EU claims, while the Netherlands was responsible for 9%.
The report noted that England and Wales was the world’s second-largest third-party funding market, set to grow from £2.2bn in 2023 to £3.7bn by 2028, highlighting prominent litigation funders such as Bench Walk Advisers, Burford Capital, Innsworth Capital and Fortress Investment Group both in terms of the number of cases handled and the size of claims.
CMS partner, Kenny Henderson, one of the authors of the report, said: “Class actions have gone from a niche area to a significant strategic risk for corporates operating in Europe,” calling the growth in claims “extraordinary”.
The growth in claims, he said, was driven by “new procedural mechanisms, innovative and aggressive claimant law firms, technology and social media techniques that assist bookbuilding and the ever-expanding litigation funding sector”.
Responding, Martyn Day, founder of Leigh Day and co-president of the Collective Redress Lawyers Association (CORLA), said the figures in the report were “misleading”.
“Counting over 650 million class members in CAT claims takes no account of the overlap of consumers and says nothing about whether those claims succeed,” he added.
He argued: “The data comes from a defendant-focused law firm that advises a lobby group financed by the US Chamber of Commerce, whose sole purpose is to fight for the interests of US corporate giants.”
Day, echoing Anthony Maton of Hausfeld on this subject, said the report also omitted outcomes, saying the CAT regime was “in its early days” and was subject to judicial scrutiny.
“The regime’s success should be judged by its outcomes, its ability to hold corporate wrongdoers to account and secure fair redress for consumers, not by the number of claims filed,” he concluded.
The report comes as the UK government announced a review of the collective actions regime, 10 years after its introduction, to assess its delivery against its statutory objectives.
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