July 20, 2008

Certainly one of the month's better headlines, and the blog post in question, at Class Action Blawg, is well worth reading too. It notes that the 2007 Finnish enactment

differs from U.S. procedure in a couple of major ways. First, only the "Consumer Ombudsman" has standing to bring a class action. Second, only those class members who return a "letter of accession to the class"--in other words, only those who opt in--will become class members (not to mention that they get an additional chance to opt out later).

As for why the law is considered a success although never once used, a report on a Finland-based website quotes a consumer agency official as saying that it has provided leverage for the conclusion of settlements without litigation in some cases.