The Netherlands Returns as a Collective-Settlement Forum

Ageas (the former Fortis) and several organizations representing Fortis shareholders announced yesterday a EUR 1.204 billion settlement of shareholder claims under the Dutch Act on Collective Settlement of Mass Claims (the "WCAM"). The proposed settlement, which is subject to approval by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, marks the reemergence of the Netherlands as a potential forum for classwide resolution of transnational disputes that can no longer be resolved in the United States (or virtually anywhere else in the world).

The proposed settlement arises from shareholder litigation filed against Fortis in Belgium, the Netherlands, and elsewhere following the 2007/2008 financial collapse. Such global securities actions would traditionally have been filed and, perhaps, settled in the United States under the federal securities laws.  However, in 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Morrison v. National Australia Bank that the federal securities laws apply only to