May 2026 Issue: Group Litigation Actions

Christopher Mendoza

Solicitor

Bingham Long

Considering the high publicity that the diesel emission litigation has had over the last couple of years, it is important t o understand some ways in which solicitors/ law firms can help the general public hold large organisations to account. Group Litigation Actions are a great tool that large groups of people with similar claims can use to bring a claim collectively, rather than each person having to bring an individual claim.

The main way these claims are brought is through what's called a Group Litigation Order (GLO). A GLO is managed by the court and this helps decide core issues and/or principles that are relevant to all claims. The Court is then able to apply the findings consistently across the whole group of claimants which, in turn, helps avoid duplication of works, costs and court resources. Most importantly, this is a key tool for access to justice for claimants seeking recourse against large organisations with significant more resources. Individual claimants would generally lack the time and/or financial resources to engage in complex litigation otherwise. On the other hand, large organisations often have the necessary resources to access significant legal representation (i.e. afford to pay experienced professionals, large support staff...). This imbalance would generally make it practically impossible for individual claimants to take on large organisations and this reflects a key gap in our 'access to justice' system.

However, Group Litigation Actions help balance this inequality by allowing individual claimants to join resources and collectively bring their claims.

An example of this is the diesel emissions litigation which relates to allegations that certain car manufacturers used 'cheat devices' that affected how diesel vehicles performed under testing conditions.

In practice, given the number of claimants, it would be practically impossible for the court to manage these claims without the a structure GLO. However, by bringing these claims as group litigation actions, the Courts have been able to manage all the claims collectively in an efficient matter.