Litigation finance group Bentham Europe prepares to fund a potential 100 billion euro ($110 billion) damages claim against Europe’s most significant truck makers after they confessed to running a 14-year cost cartel.
Bentham stated on Monday it intends to back a group action on behalf of truck purchasers who came down with the cartel including Volvo, Daimler, Paccar’s DAF, CNH Industrial’s Iveco and Volkswagen‘s MAN.
Four truck makers were penalized a record 2.9 billion euros by EU regulators in July for cost repairing and passing on to consumers the costs of abiding by stricter emission rules.
Volkswagen’s MAN got away a fine after it blew the whistle, however all 5 conceded that they had actually run a cartel between 1997 and 2011 apart from Volkswagen stablemate Scania, which is being investigated.
Bentham Europe, owned by funds handled by U.S. investment firm Elliott Management, approximates that 10 million trucks were sold throughout the EU in the time and that each one was overpriced by an estimated of 10,500 euros.
Bentham, which is likewise funding shareholder lawsuits versus British supermarket chain Tesco and Volkswagen, stated that it is prematurely to reveal which law practice would bring its proposed claim or where European jurisdiction it would be submitted.
Third-party litigation funding has ended up being significantly mainstream in the UK over the past 7 years. Funders offer to spend for claims in exchange for a share of any payment and returns can be considerable, however it is a high-risk firm and payments for effective claims can take years to materialize.
Critics state that litigation funding operators can bully smaller business by threatening class actions. However Bentham Europe, whose competitors include such as Burford Capital and United States-based Gerchen Keller Capital, states it just takes on significant claims where it scents misbehavior.
