A Law from 1634: The Roadblock to Collective Suing of Big Tech in Europe
Ireland’s statute from 1634, prohibiting funding of lawsuits unless one is a direct party or has a legitimate interest, is the reason behind the scarcity of collective actions against Big Tech in Europe. According to Politico, since the EU granted consumers the right to bring class actions in 2020, only one collective lawsuit has been filed in Ireland.
The Legal Obstacle
Two medieval legal concepts, maintenance and champerty, form the basis of this restriction. Maintenance refers to funding someone else’s lawsuit without a stake in the outcome, while champerty involves funding a lawsuit in exchange for a share of the winnings.
Ireland, the only EU country with such a law, has maintained these offenses from English law, originally banned in 1967.
The EU Directive and Its Limitation
The EU’s Representative Actions Directive, introduced in 2020 to allow consumers across the bloc to bring collective cases, has a crucial restriction. Only qualified non-profit entities can file such actions. Due to Ireland’s law, non-profits cannot receive external funding for lawsuits against tech giants like Meta, Google, Microsoft, TikTok, and Apple, which operate out of Dublin.
The Impact
Johnny Ryan, from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, highlights the "fatal contradiction" in this situation. While the directive aims to provide a route for collective redress, Ireland’s law effectively blocks it.
Out of five non-profits that have registered in Ireland to bring representative actions, only the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Noyb, and Digital Rights Ireland have a history of taking on large tech companies. However, their ability to fund these cases is limited.
A Call for Change
"To take complex litigation like this in Ireland costs at least €1 million in the first instance," Ryan told Politico. "We cannot take multiple cases unless the State allows us to raise the necessary funds."
The challenge extends beyond Ireland, as regulators in other countries also face difficulties in dealing with these tech giants. As Gerard Rudden, an Irish lawyer, notes, "If funding was permitted, you could have a European-wide collective redress case… but at the moment it’s just impossible because it would cost too much."