What is a Class Action Law Suit, and How do you File one in the Middle East?

For those who are unfamiliar with the concept of a “class action” lawsuit, perhaps Hollywood classics like “Erin Brockovich” with Julia Roberts is a good place to start. In the film, Julia Roberts plays the real life paralegal and legal secretary, Erin Brockovich, who discovers water contamination in a small US town. The contamination has caused many residents to become seriously ill. As a result, she helps engineer a “class action” law suit whereby all the affected members in the town come together and sue the gas and electric company responsible for the leak as one class. In the film, and real life, the case is a success and the residents of the town are awarded $333 million dollars to be distributed among themselves.

The idea of a class action lawsuit can serve a number of purposes for a plaintiff or claimant. First, it makes the cost of filing suit relatively minimal, if anything. In most cases, lawyers will fight the lawsuit in the courts or on the negotiation table for free, while taking a commission, normally called a “contingency fee” from any award given. If there are many individuals who are harmed by the same defendant, they may come together as a “class” and thereby sue the same defendant or defendants in one lawsuit. As such, this also serves the purpose of judicial expediency, by allowing all members of the class to sue before one court and one judge or jury.

This concept is not exactly applicable in the UAE and GCC legal system. However, principles and extensions of the concept can be applied, and used effectively in Dubai and other GCC jurisdictions. Particularly in the DIFC, where British Common Law is applied, a class action may be possible and even desireable.

However, for individuals working and living in the mainland, there are still things to be learned from the idea of a class action. For example, Allegiance International has represented a large number of individuals in Insurance cases (while receiving favorable judgments in such cases). While there are usually court fees, seperate judges and even experts in such cases, these are usually awarded back to the plaintiff upon the issuance of a successful judgment. Where the real benefits of being part of an “injured class” in the UAE, Bahrain or Oman can come into play, is with respect to legal fees and processes outside the court room.

As a class with very similar “injuries” or “damage claims,” legal fees for such matters are greatly reduced by forming an informal class of claimants. The work for each case is relatively similar, so therefore case fees taken by advocates are also greatly reduced, to the extent that they are oftentimes negligible for most clients. In addition, when a class is forming, there are a number of pretrial notices and settlement procedures which the local advocate will undertake on the client’s behalf to put pressure on the defendant.

For example, if a large corporation is aware that they are to receive claims from 15–20 different injured parties, they are far more likely to settle before court, than be held liable for 20 different cases, lawyer fees and court fees. This can reduce the burden on claimants, and we have successfully settled a number of such cases as well.

When can you form an “informal” class in the UAE, Bahrain or other GCC Countries?

A primary example of when it would be a good idea to come together and sue a company or corporation would be in the instance of labor or insurance cases. There are many instances heard of in the news where a large number of workers are not paid on time, are overworked and are perhaps not paid at all in certain companies. In such instances, when these workers come together in groups to file legal claims before the labor courts, the chance of success is far higher given the procedures described above. The cases will be filed separately, but the process will essentially be the same.

Other instances can be in insurance cases, or matters where there are damages to property from accidents or due to real estate matters. Allegiance International has a number of successful cases in this category, and we continue to help clients in this regard.

Conclusion

Oftentimes individuals facing financial harm from their employer or other companies may fear the repercussions of taking actions to enforce their rights. Particularly when these individuals are harmed in groups, there are ways to utilize the legal system in the UAE, Dubai, Bahrain, Oman and other GCC countries to achieve some form of justice.