Class Action Issues In 2025/2026 – Report From The Perfect Law Global Class Actions And Mass Torts Conference In London

Duane Morris Takeaways: Gregory Tsonis, a Partner in the Duane Morris Class Action Defense Group, recently spoke at the Global Class Actions and Mass Torts Conference organized by Perfect Law in London. During the conference on April 22 and 23, 2026, over 200 attendees discussed key issues impacting class action litigation in 2025/2026. As a guest presenter from the United States on employment class actions, Greg spoke on United States class action trends and defense strategies.

The Conference

Perfect Law brings together top practitioners on both sides of the bar, as well as academics and the judiciary, to tackle contemporary issues in complex litigation, focusing on class actions and mass torts. The conference featured several prominent federal judges who handle leading MDL proceedings and class actions, including Judge Robert Dow, Northern District of Illinois (and Counselor to the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court), Judge Robin L. Rosenberg, Southern District of Florida, and Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, Northern District of California. In addition, Judge Amy J. St. Eve of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit spoke on multiple panels.

The organizers compiled a wide range of knowledge and experience on cutting edge class action topics, including recent trends and emerging issues. The presenters covered the latest developments in class action trends across Canada, the United States, and Europe. They discussed trends and legal developments in consumer, privacy, and employment class actions, as well as the continued growth of mass tort actions targeting various industries.

Trends in Global Mass Torts and Public Nuisance

I had the privilege of speaking on class action and mass tort trends. Our panel addressed a wide variety of cutting-edge class action issues running the gamut from settlements, the important arbitration defense, and litigation funding.

The proliferation of mass tort and class action litigation is largely driven by heightened risks and elevated exposure that are connected to record-breaking settlement numbers. In 2025, settlement numbers reached an unprecedented level in class action litigation. In 2024, settlement numbers broke the $40 billion mark for the third year in a row. In 2025, the cumulative value of the highest ten settlements across all substantive areas of class action litigation surpassed that benchmark and totaled $79 billion. Combined, the top 10 settlement numbers of the past four years in all substantive areas exceeded $238 billion, representing use of the class action mechanism to redistribute wealth at an unprecedented level. Mass tort litigation has recently also somewhat shifted away from areas like the pharmaceutical companies and the opioid crisis to industries like technology companies, for example, on the basis that tech companies knew and disregarded harms from social media.

I was also able to address the effectiveness of the arbitration defense to preclude or limit class action litigation. Arbitration agreements with class action waivers provide the foundation for one of the most potent defenses to class action litigation. While the U.S. Supreme Court has continued to promote arbitration agreements, plaintiffs have continued to attack their enforceability, and courts across the country have continued to apply exceptions in inconsistent and expansive ways. Mass arbitration has also emerged as a way to weaponize arbitration proceedings, with the plaintiffs’ bar seeking to adjudicate hundred or thousands of claims by bypassing Rule 23’s class certification requirements.

Litigation funding by private entities also continues to fuel the prevalence of class action and mass tort litigation. Financial firms are continuing to invest substantial sums into portfolios of class action and mass tort litigation, and disclosure requirements continue to be a source of dispute.

Panel On Thresholds For Class Certification Across Jurisdictions

On the first day of the conference, an interesting panel discussion ensued on class certification standards in various jurisdictions. Panelists spoke to the general requirements under Rule 23(a) – numerosity, commonality, adequacy, and typicality – and the differences between class action requirements in the United States and other countries. In Canada, for example, a sufficiently numerous class can consist of as little as two people, while in the United States 40 individuals will typically be sufficient to satisfy numerosity.

In discussing the Rule 23 standard in the United States, the panel presented to the audience the statistics on class certification presented in the Duane Morris Class Action Review – 2026. In terms of class certification motions, the Plaintiffs bar successfully secured certification in 68% of cases over the past year, a slight increase from the 63% success rate in 2024. In 2025, plaintiffs also maintained more consistent certification rates across substantive areas, from a low of 33% in the data breach area, to highs above 70% in the antitrust, wage & hour, and securities fraud areas. Likewise, courts granted more than 90% of the motions for class certification that they adjudicated in 2025 in the ERISA and WARN areas. Additionally, the panel spoke to the importance of reaching the class certification stage in a case, which in many cases can take three to four years, and that approximately 75% of Rule 23(f) petitions to appeal class certification decisions during the pendency of the case are denied by courts of appeal.

Panel on Class Representative Duties

Another panel of plaintiffs lawyers, defense lawyers, judges, and professors addressed the duties of class representatives in varying jurisdictions. The panelists discussed how in the United States, class representatives are expected to be knowledgeable about the litigation, the claims asserted, and the class nature of the action. The class representatives must individually be adequate and have claims that are typical of the putative class as well. The panelists discussed the ability to compensate class representatives for their participation as class representatives, with all but one circuit in the United States permitting such incentive payments (the Eleventh Circuit does not allow incentive payments). Europe largely does not permit incentive payments to class representatives, with such payments expressly forbidden in the Netherlands.

Disclaimer: This Alert has been prepared and published for informational purposes only and is not offered, nor should be construed, as legal advice. For more information, please see the firm's full disclaimer.