Protection of a Defendant against a Class Action in Civil and Arbitral Procedures

Abstract

The article analyzes the issues of the defendant’s defense against a class action including the period before and after the procedural reform. The author explores the question of the possibility of filing a counterclaim in group proceedings, and also analyses the objection as the main means of defense of the responding party against the class-action suit. The present study proposes a categorization of objections according to the legal result to which they are directed, and depending on the conditions of group proceedings against which objections can be filed. It is concluded that the most promising type of objections are objections to the condition of similarity of the actual circumstances underlying the rights of the group members and the obligations of the respondent. Based on the procedural doctrine and judicial practice, the options for objections to certain disputes are studied, and also a possible strategy for defending the defendant in group proceedings is modelled on the example of a specific case.