On March 14, 2016, Ageas (formerly, Fortis Bank) and several foundations representing the Fortis shareholders announced a EUR 1.204 billion settlement of shareholder claims and they are now seeking to declare the settlement legally binding on all shareholders under the 2005 Dutch Act on Collective Settlement of Mass Claims (the WCAM).[1] Recently, the settlement was brought before the Amsterdam Court of Appeal to be declared legally binding upon all shareholders. The case currently pending before the Amsterdam Court of Appeal will further demonstrate whether the Netherlands is a feasible forum for class wide resolution of transnational disputes and can provide a feasible alternative to cases that can no longer be resolved in the United States, or practically anywhere else in the world.
For more information please read our GT Alert written by Greenberg Traurig attorney Marie-José van der Heijden titled, “The Dutch Act on Collective Settlement of Mass Claims (WCAM) Goes Global Again: A Forum Outside the United States to Resolve Mass Claims Disputes Internationally.”
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[1] See “Ageas, Deminor, Stichting FortisEffect, SICAF en VEB bereiken akkoord voor schikking van alle burgerlijke zaken over Fortisverleden” (Ageas, Deminor, Stichting FortisEffect, SICAF and VEB reach settlement on all civil cases concerning the past related to Fortis), available at: http://www.ageas.com/nl/persbericht/ageas-deminor-stichting-fortiseffect-sicaf-en-veb-bereiken-akkoord-voor-schikking-van (last visited on March 17, 2016).