Técnicas agregativas de litígios nos Estados Unidos: class action e multidistrict litigation

Abstract

The thesis provides a detailed analysis of the two primary techniques for aggregating claims in the American legal system. Class actions represent a significant procedural tool for collectivization, granting class members standing to bring a collective action not only on behalf of their own individual claims but also for the entire group there represented. The thesis examines the historical evolution of class actions, from the Roman period to the enactment of Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in its current form, following the approval of the latest amendment in December 2018. Furthermore, it addresses procedural aspects relevant to the overall understanding of the institute: threshold requirements, types of class actions, jurisdictional issues, class certification, notice, global settlements, res judicata and related mechanisms for providing binding effect on class members (opt-in and opt-out), awarding the attorney’s fee in class action and the current use of arbitration agreements as a way to limit access to judicial class actions, especially in consumer and labor fields. Additionally, a specific chapter on securities class actions has been added, underscoring a thematic approach, increasingly prevalent within the United States serving as a pivotal mechanism in safeguarding investors in the American securities market in cases of fraud committed by companies listed on the Stock Exchange. Lastly, an investigation was conducted into the multidistrict litigation institute, a relevant tool for consolidating civil actions pending in different federal district courts that share a common factual issues to a single district for consolidated or coordinate proceedings, previously selected by the Multidistrict Litigation Act, enacted in 1968. MDL represents a reality in federal practice, accounting for an increasingly larger fraction of the judicial docket pending before the federal courts. Its relevance and contemporaneity underscore the importance of the incidental technique of collectivization as an aggregative tool within the microsystem of collective redress.