On March 2, Kateryna Hrebeniuk, the lawyer of Greco Law Company, took part in the web conference “Important trends and changes in the field of class actions”. The speakers at the conference were Brendan J. Rudolph, an advisor of Cornerstone Research, and Greg Coleman, a senior partner of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC.
The central focus of the discussion concerned the issues of securities class actions and consumer protection lawsuits due to the presence of substandard products and services on the market.
In particular, Brendan J. Rudolph spoke about the DDL Index (a unique patented method of financial and economic research and expert analysis developed and provided exclusively by Cornerstone Research; the DDL Index measures the change in the total market value of a defendant company in class action settlements and lawsuits related to securities fraud). Also, the speaker presented the statistics that reflected the growth of lawsuits related to securities fraud.
In his report, Greg Coleman focused on the main trends of 2022 related to class actions in the USA, highlighting the following trends: data privacy; consumer goods (incorrect labelling and false advertising, benzene and lead); product defects (solar cell panels, automotive defects, including the impact of COVID-19 on the automotive industry).
The senior partner of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC also noted that the administration of the action itself is an important issue in large class actions, namely, how to identify members of the group, to interact, and to pay out money, etc. Another interesting area of class actions, in his opinion, are lawsuits related to PFAS (chemical substance), which can be found in juices, drinks and many other food products.
Separately, Greg Coleman focused on class action lawsuits against car manufacturing companies, highlighting the following criteria for a class action preparation approach: i) verification of existing practice; ii) the need to involve subject matter experts who will conduct analysis and research prior to the action preparation; iii) the presence of damaged cars; iv) a clear understanding of a possibility to reach the settlement.
Attending such events is of great significancy for the successful practice of the Greco Law Company team, considering that it is international experience and its implementation in the Ukrainian judicial system that helps to develop the institution of class actions in Ukraine.