International D & O

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One of the more interesting recent developments in the world of directors’ and officers’ liability and insurance has been the rise of collective actions and mass actions outside the U.S. Class actions are of course a well-established part of the litigation scene in the U.S., but at least traditionally class, mass, or collective actions have been rare outside the U.S. However, as discussed in a December 29, 2025, memo from the Labaton Keller Sucharow law firm entitled “Global Class Action Litigation: Causes, Effects and What’s Next” (here) a variety of changes in a number of jurisdictions has led to an increase in collective litigation outside the U.S., a development that could have important future implications for potential D&O liability.

Continue Reading The Continuing Rise of Collective and Mass Actions Outside the U.S.
JJ Chan

In the following guest post, my good friend JJ Chan takes a look at some key principles of Malaysian corporate law, including important appellate cases interpreting the Business Judgement Rule under Malaysian law. JJ is the Managing Partner of the Chan Ban Eng law firm in Malaysia. I would like to thank JJ for allowing me to publish his article on this site. Here is JJ’s article.

Continue Reading Guest Post: Business Judgment Rule in Malaysian Corporate Law

Class actions are of course much more a feature of the litigation scene in the U.S. than in the U.K, but things have been changing in recent years. The most significant initial change in direction toward collective actions in the U.K. was the adoption several years ago of “opt-out” actions in the U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal proceedings. More recently, through its courts’ use of group litigation orders (GLOs), there has been a “surge in mass claims” in the U.K., according to a recent law memo. The result has been, according to the October 13, 2025, memo from the Skadden law firm, a “dramatic transformation” over the past decade in the U.K. of its “collective redress landscape.” The memo, which is entitled “Class Actions by the Backdoor? The Evolving Landscape of Group Litigation in the U.K,” can be found here.

Continue Reading “Backdoor Class Actions”: Proliferating U.K. Collective Action Proceedings

In 2023, China introduced a number of significant revisions to its Company Law. Among other things, the revisions introduced a number corporate governance and liability reforms. According to a October 9, 2025 memo from the Hogan Lovells law firm, which can be found here, the legal reforms are among several factors contributing to “particularly sharp increases” in the number of D&O claims in China. According to the memo, these developments present D&O insurers with both “challenges and opportunities.”

Continue Reading China’s Legal Reforms Fuel Increase in D&O Claims, Interest in D&O Insurance

In a milestone development in the long-running Dutch collective investor action brought against Petrobras and related entities, a Netherlands court has ruled on the merits in favor of the Foundation bringing the action on behalf of investors, holding that Petrobras harmed investors by publishing misleading financial information. Though the case is not done – the Court will next consider certain legal issues pertaining to the investors’ claimed damages – the Court’s recent ruling is an important step in this significant and high-profile case. An English translation of the Court’s July 26, 2023, judgment can be found here. The July 26, 2023, press release of the International Securities Association & Foundations Management Company, the administrator of the Foundation brining the action, which summarizes the rulings in the Court’s judgment, can be found here.

Continue Reading Dutch Court Enters Interim Merits Judgment in Favor of Petrobras Investors

During most of my career working on D&O liability issues, if we were talking about D&O claims, we were talking about developments in the U.S. In recent years, this generalization is increasingly untrue; starting with the global financial crisis now more than a decade ago, investors, regulators, and others throughout the world have sought to hold companies and their directors and officers accountable. The topic of D&O claims is no longer (and has not been for a while) just about the U.S. Indeed, as I have noted elsewhere on this site, the global rise of collective investor actions may be one of the most important stories in the D&O liability arena. With the global rise in directors’ and officers’ liability actions has come a series of questions about the availability of indemnification and insurance for the targeted individuals in their home countries or in the countries where the claims are pending, questions that often may be challenging to try to answer.
Continue Reading Book Review: Directors’ Liability and Indemnification (Fourth Edition)

One of the more noteworthy developments in recent years has been the increasing frequency of collective investor actions outside the U.S. In certain instances, these cases have resulted in settlements that rival the largest U.S. securities class action lawsuit settlements in size. The largest of the settlements outside the U.S. are compiled in an October 31, 2022 report from ISS Securities Class Action Services entitled “The Top 25 Non-North American Settlements: Largest Securities-Related Settlements Outside of North America of All-Time.” The report, which updates ISS SCAS’s earlier research and was written by Jeff Lubitz, Managing Director, ISS Securities Class Action Services, and Jarett Sena, Director of Litigation Analysis, ISS Securities Class Action Services, can be found here.
Continue Reading The Top 25 Collective Investor Action Settlements Outside of North America

Jeff Lubitz

Jarett Sena

In the following guest post, Jeff Lubitz, Managing Director, ISS Securities Class Action Services, and Jarett Sena, Director of Litigation Analysis, ISS Securities Class Action Services, review an important recent Australian High Court decision in which the court paved the way for foreign shareholders to join the collective investor action pending in Australia against BHP Billiton Limited. I would like to thank Jeff and Jarett for allowing me to publish their article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is the authors’ article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Australian High Court OKs Foreign Shareholders In BHP Collective Investor Action

Among the topics of principal focus on this site are U.S. securities class action lawsuits, although from time to time I do write about collective investor actions outside the U.S (here, for example). The fact is that in recent years there have been a number of important and interesting developments in collective investor actions outside of the U.S. In a recent paper, “Five Current Class Actions Outside of North American Investors Should Be Aware Of,” Jeff Lubitz, Managing Director, ISS Securities Class Action Services, takes a look at some key cases outside of the U.S. to watch in coming months. A copy of the paper can be found here.
Continue Reading Key Collective Investor Actions Outside the U.S. to Watch

Volkswagen, several former executives –including Martin Winterkorn, the former Chair of the company’s Board of Management–  and the company’s D&O insurers have reached an agreement to settle damages claims the company asserted against the executives relating to the company’s “Dieselgate” scandal. In March 2021, following a years-long investigation of the scandal by an outside law firm, the company filed the claims, in which the executives were alleged to have breached their duties to the company. The settlement, worth in the aggregate approximately $351 million in U.S. dollar terms, includes substantial payments both by the individual executives and by the company’s D&O insurers. The D&O insurers’ contribution reflects a separate settlement between the company and its insurers with respect to insurance coverage issues. A copy of VW’s June 9, 2021 press release describing the settlement can be found here.
Continue Reading Former Execs, Insurers Settle VW Dieselgate D&O Liability Claims