The idea that American-style class actions could soon be coming to Europe makes most European businessmen shudder. They fear the sort of astronomic damages granted to aggrieved consumers and shareholders on the other side of the Atlantic: $145 billion awarded by a Florida jury against five tobacco companies on behalf of all American smokers in 2000 (later overturned); a $1.1 billion settlement against Ahold, a Dutch retailer, in a shareholders' class action in 2005; a $65m settlement last year against IBM in an overtime claim by technical and support staff.
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