By Dr Urs Feller, Nina Lim

In Switzerland, typical class actions as known in many other jurisdictions are not available. However, ‘Dieselgate’ and similar cases also affect consumers in Switzerland. If a large number of people suffer the same or similar damage, each has to file their claim
individually.

While total damages are usually large the individual claims may be relatively small, which means many individuals do not assert their claims because of the disproportionate risk-benefit relationship.