Class Actions in Brazil - A Model for Civil Law Countries [English]

Abstract

Asserting that class actions are compatible with civil law systems, the author describes the Brazilian system of class actions, comparing it with its American counterpart, and placing it in the context of other systems' approaches to class action litigation. In this paper, the author presents the Brazilian class action system to an international audience and introduces a typical civil law class action to an American audience.The author contends that the Brazilian class action system is a unique creation in the way that it addresses aspects of class action litigation such as standing to sue, types of group rights, res judicata and lis pendens. The Brazilian experience demonstrates that civil law systems can employ a class suit procedure successfully but cannot transplant the American class action model into their systems without substantial adaptation.