Global Class Action Settlements Can Go Through Dutch Courts

An interesting judgment of the Court of Appeal (Gerechtshof) of Amsterdam of 17 January 2012 shows that Dutch courts have jurisdiction to deal with international mass claim settlements. In its decision, the Court made binding a settlement agreement reached in the Converium case. This settlement awards damages to all non-American shareholders of Converium, a Swiss reinsurer, further to a decline in the value of the company's shares following announcements of reserve increases.

Converium's shareholders had brought a putative securities class action before the US courts, arguing that the company misrepresented the sufficiency of its loss reserves and thus misrepresented its financial strength. In the course of these proceedings, the New York District Court excluded from the "class" the non-American shareholders that bought Converium shares on a stock exchange outside of the US. A final class settlement for the benefit of the American shareholders only was approved in