UK Class Actions - The eagle has landed.

(From Post Magazine)

Class action litigation is being brought to the forefront of UK insurers' minds after leading US class action litigation firm Cohen Milstein Hausfeld and Toll opened its first London office last month. However, this comes as no surprise to insurers, who see the introduction of class action suits in the UK as inevitable.

Alan Owens, partner of dispute resolution at law firm Irwin Mitchell - whose firm already has a close working relationship with Cohen Milstein - tells Post that the discussion of class action suits has definitely moved up the agenda over the last 18 months.

"There have been two interesting developments recently, which form part of the reason why Cohen Milstein has finally decided to open up an office in the UK," he explains.

The first comes in the form of expected European Union reform, which would open the way for class action suits across Europe. In December 2005, the European Commission published a green paper on damages actions for breach of the commission's anti-trust rules.

This green paper effectively signals the introduction of class action suits, although Mr Owens states it is unlikely this initiative will lead to European-wide harmonisation on such actions.

Secondly, last year the Department of Trade and Industry published a consultation paper entitled Representative Actions in Consumer Protection Cases.