Class action goes global

A US law firm is looking to link with European and Australian counterparts to form one of the first global class actions.

Pendley Law Firm in Louisiana has filed a class action suit against GlaxoSmithKline in connection with the alleged side-effects of anti-depressant drug Paxil (Seroxat in the UK).

It claims Paxil users suffer withdrawal symptoms including 'electric shocks', high fever and nausea.

The firm's UK-based consultant, academic legal researcher and Lincoln University law lecturer Barry Turner, said: 'Although the suit has only been filed in the US at the moment, I am certain that sooner or later a similar claim will be lodged in the UK and in other jurisdictions where the drug is sold.'

Mr Turner is currently looking for firms in Europe and across the world to join in a global co-ordinated class action, to share expert witness material, legal opinion and research.

Many international class actions are essentially run from the US with other countries dealt with there.

'We have had expressions of interest so far from Portuguese, German, Italian and Australian firms,' he said.

Paul Balen, head of clinical negligence at Freethcartwright in Nottingham, said a similar global class action had taken place in the 1990s with breast implant litigation, and he warned of potential problems.

'There are a number of pitfalls with global class actions,' he said.

'If the action is being co-ordinated from another jurisdiction, you may not have control over the events, and if it is dealt with primarily in the US, US attorneys may be primarily concerned with securing favourable compensation for US claimants.'

Despite this, he maintained that in theory global class actions had a number of benefits.

'Sharing documentation and evidence always helps a case, and it is particularly useful to overcome courts imposing confidentiality clauses, which forbid the disclosure of documents to anybody outside the case.'

Victoria MacCallum