Claim Culture: Mass Litigation and Fault Liability

The course presents a selection of topics of non-contractual liability (tort law) in the Netherlands, the US and a few other national law systems. Statutory rules of tort law are treated as well as recent developments in case law and attention will be paid to the societal impact of tort liability (e.g. on private and social insurance and in terms of prevention of damage).The course consists of seven weeks in which the student will attend the lecture and the tutorial, beginning with an important Introduction into the fault liability rules of the various legal systems (week 1), followed by thematic seminars in the field of –amongst other themes –Nervous Shock, Defective Products, Traffic Liability, Mass torts, Wrongful Birth/Life, State Liability and Human Rights Violations. One course week is reserved to finalize the academic paper (part of the examination).Depending upon the number of students, there will be groups of approx. 25 participants of the tutorials, which will provide for an interactive discussion forum. The precise literature will be announced on Blackboard.

Place of the course within the curriculum:

• Optional legal course

Additional requirements:
Any additional requirements of the course are listed in the "Leidraad" of the course.
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After this course:

• the student has knowledge and understanding of a number of subjects on non-contractual liability (tort law), such as fault liability, liability for defective products, mass torts, state liability, human rights violations, etc.
• the student is able to form his own opinion through reading literature and case law, also of other jurisdictions (including European case law), academic writing and debating actively.

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You must meet the following requirements

• Completed all course modules listed below
• Introduction to Property Law (RGBUPRV002)
• Foundations of Law (RGBUSBR001)
• Intro Constitutional/Administrative Law (RGBUSBR002)
• Introduction to Criminal Law (RGBUSTR001)
• Introduction to Law of Obligations (RGBUPRV001)