Environment ombudsman calls for expanding class action lawsuits

Budapest (MTI) – Marcel Szabó, Hungary’s deputy ombudsman in charge of future generations, has called for expanding the types of lawsuits that can be filed on behalf of class action groups to include environmental lawsuits.

Szabó has proposed amending a justice ministry bill on the new civil procedural code to include damage and losses from environmental pollution among the types of damage for which claimants can seek compensation in class action lawsuits, his office said in a statement on Monday.

Currently class action lawsuits only cover the workplace and consumer contracts.

Damage from environmental pollution should be included because those who are on the receiving end of it rarely seek remedies through legal action. Yet they would have a greater chance of being awarded compensation if they joined together with other claimants, it said.

Allowing claimants to file class action suits over pollution would greatly help enforce citizens’ constitutional right to a clean environment, it added.

Source: MTI