• Medical Malpractice and Compensation in Global Perspective
• Yearbook on European Tort Law
• Digest of European Tort Law
• Database on European Tort Law
• The Effects of a Lack of Financial Means on the Duty of Care and Liabilities of Hospitals
• Principles of European Tort Law
• Employers' Liability and Workers' Compensation
• Loss of Housekeeping Capacity
• The Special Case of Mass Torts

The Special Case of Mass Torts

This project deals with  mass torts. For example cases where a great number of claimants have suffered compensable harm and seek to recover in an action against the same defendant. In such cases European jurisdictions often tend to rely on ad hoc solutions established for a specific case. These do not always fit within the traditional system of tort law.

These classic rules of tort law on the other hand are made for individual damages to one or a small number of persons and do not always provide solutions for cases of mass torts. At least on the level of civil procedure it seems reasonable in such cases to strike a different path than the usual one. Be it through a joinder of claims or through the famous class actions which have been subject of recent intensive discussion in European jurisdictions.

This new research project shall discover whether the existing instruments of tort law are sufficient and can be adapted to solve cases of mass torts or whether specific rules would be better. Therefore the first step will be to analyse how mass torts have been dealt with historically in the selected jurisdictions and how they influenced the development of tort law. Is the existence of a “claims cultures” or other general conditions responsible for specific developments in different legal systems? Secondly we will focus  on the substantive tort law and the law on civil procedure, especially in terms of the recent development at the European level.

As far as possible the project aims to cover individual rather than institutionalised solutions (e.g. those found in the insurance sector or public damage-funds). The project leader drafted a Questionnaire which is set to be discussed in more detail before it will be sent out to the contributors to begin their research. This project is estimated to reach completion sometime in 2012.