Mass claims

De Gier | Conflict Solutions specializes in consulting around mass tort situations. Involvement ranges from counseling aggrieved parties on novel issues, to being a board member of advocacy organizations, project management, business mediation and being lead counsel on the advocacy team.

Adriaan de Gier is chairman of the board of interest group Stichting CZFL and operations director of interest group Stichting ICAM. He is an internationally recognized expert, speaker at domestic and foreign mass tort conferences, member of the international organization Class Representatives World Network and member of the Dutch interdisciplinary roundtable mass tort.

In large cases, Adriaan de Gier leads project teams with experts from various law firms and other disciplines who handle the case under his responsibility.

Assessment of whether a situation lends itself to a mass tort approach is non-binding. If so, the case will be built up and prepared for further action.

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How issues arise

Mass damage cases are not made: the damage is already there, it is merely discovered. For example, that a company has illegally dumped waste for years, such as Dupont in Dordrecht. Or letting consumers pay more variable interest than the bank is entitled to for years, as with ABN AMRO. Or that on a huge scale, deliberate tampering with emissions software of cars, which caused damage to many buyers and unnecessarily damaged the environment and our health.

How it works: the Wamca

Citizens are individually unable to recover damages from polluters. It is too expensive and our legal system would be severely overburdened by the hundreds of thousands of proceedings that would have to be initiated each year. For this purpose, the government introduced the Wamca: a special law introduced to ensure that citizens can be helped by professionals (Wamca advocacy organizations).

What does De Gier | Conflict Solutions do?

The main challenge in mass tort situations is establishing funding for the action. This often involves several million euros. De Gier | Conflict Solutions helps with that type of process, both in the probability assessment, preparation, and execution. As an attorney, expert, director of Wamca foundations or litigation manager.

“Extraordinary how tenacious Adriaan de Gier is, how he can hold a case he’s cut his teeth on for as long as it takes. Mass tort situations can take an enormously long time, so that is an indispensable trait. And with success: in the Fortis case, we were the only ones to get a winning verdict after six years, and that, by the way, was the starting shot for the negotiations with Fortis/Ageas, which resulted in 1.3 billion in investor compensation.”

– Steven Vanderlaan –

Investor regarding FortisEffect

Mass tort cases

This is a selection of mass tort cases that De Gier | Conflict Solutions is or has been involved in

Fortis / Ageas / ABN AMRO

Nationalization of ABN AMRO and 'rescue of Fortis' in 2008

Involvement
Initiator of interest group Stichting FortisEffect, proceedings against Fortis / Ageas / the State of the Netherlands
Size of group of disadvantaged people
270,000 worldwide
Status
Claim awarded by Amsterdam Court of Appeal in 2014, settlement of 1.3 billion euros in 2016, paid out and settled in 2018-2022

GGD Data Claim

Proceedings against State of the Netherlands (VWS) and GGD

Involvement
Largest data breach in Dutch history concerning confidential data of 6.5 million citizens regarding COVID-19 databases. Co-initiator and operations director interest group ICAM Foundation
Size of group of disadvantaged people
about 6.5 million people
Status
Proceedings pending at the Amsterdam court

Nationale Nederlanden

Action against NN over €3.2 bln worth of usurious policies

Involvement
Co-initiator and member legal team of advocacy organization Wakkerpolis Foundation
Size
Group of disadvantaged persons: approximately 600,000 persons
Status
Claim by court granted in part (350 million euros), appeal pending at Hague Court of Appeal

ASR Insurance

Proceedings related to sale of usurious policies; damages approx. €5 billion

Involvement
Co-initiator and member legal team of Wakkerpolis Foundation
Size of group of disadvantaged people
approximately 200,000 people
Status
Claim rejected by court, appeal pending at Arnhem Court of Appeal

Achmea Bank (Staalbankiers), ABN AMRO (Mees Pierson), ING and Van Lanschot

Litigation against a number of banks for damages of approx. € 750 mln. by selling Swiss franc loans

Involvement
Co-initiator and chairman of the board CZFL Foundation
Size of group of disadvantaged people
about 1,000 people
Status
Proceedings pending at the Hague District Court

Airbnb

Procedure related to duplicate service charges

Involvement
Co-initiator and lawyer
Size of group of disadvantaged people
approximately 200,000 people.
Status
Proceedings ongoing

Want to know if you have a case?

Send your information and our specialists will look at the possibilities.
Make sure your document includes the following:

Description of the case (maximum 1,000 words)
The causative and affected parties
Your contact information

Massaschade