A group litigation order (or GLO) is an order of a
court
A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...
in
England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...
, which permits a number of
claims which give rise to common or related issues (of fact or law) to be managed collectively.
History
Prior to the introduction of the
Civil Procedure Rules the courts of England and Wales had used a number of techniques to manage multiple claims. In particular
representative claims permitted a
plaintiff
A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...
(now
claimant
A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...
) who shared the same interest in a claim as a group to either begin or continue a claim as a representative of that group. The court could also consolidate one or more claims so that they were managed or heard together.
The final ''Access to Justice Report'', published in July 1996, concluded that these methods were not sufficiently flexible and recommended that a system for group litigation be introduced.
Group litigation orders were added to the Civil Procedure Rules from 2 May 2000.
Procedure
Any party to a claim may apply for a group litigation order to be made before or after issue of the claim. A single court will be assigned to manage the GLO. A Group Register will then be set up listing all claims which have become part of the GLO. Any party to a case may apply to be added or removed from the group register.
All claims that from part of a GLO will be automatically allocated to the
multi-track and will be moved to the management court. There is great flexibility in how group litigation may be managed and directions should be tailored to the specific needs of a particular set of claims.
As a
class action
A class action is a form of lawsuit.
Class Action may also refer to:
* ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
* Class Action (band), a garage house band
* "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...
, a claimant must explicitly "opt-in" to most claims. In 2015 an "opt-out" basis was established for violations of the
Competition Act 1998 and
Consumer Rights Act 2015
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 (c. 15) is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which consolidates existing consumer protection law legislation and also gives consumers a number of new rights and remedies. Provisions for secondary ticketi ...
.
Examples
Notable cases in which such an order has been issued include the McDonald's hot drinks litigation in the
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...
Queen's Bench Division, proceedings against the
Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital over the removal of organs,
and the case brought by subpostmasters against the Post Office in the
British Post Office scandal.
A full list of current GLOs is available on
Her Majesty's Courts Service
Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) was an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and was responsible for the administration of the civil, family and criminal courts in England and Wales.
It was created by the amalgamation of the Ma ...
website.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Practice Direction 19B covering group litigationList of Group Litigation Orders
English civil procedure