Las acciones de clase: desde los Estados Unidos a la Argentina

Abstract

Basically, class actions suits have been introduced in Argentina by two Supreme Court decisions, originally Ekmekdjian v. Sofovich and, centrally, Halabi. Unlike the U.S. experience, where class actions are thoroughly regulated in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Number 23, Argentine class action law has been largely judge-made. Argentine Supreme Court Justices contend that basically there are three different types of rights involved in any judicial process: i) individual rights, where damages are awarded on a case-by-case basis; ii) collective or group rights, as in environmental matters, where harm is generalized; and iii) a rather hybrid third grouping, which involves individual homogeneous rights. Here, each member of the class has an individual stake on the final outcome, but the factual and legal causes of the inflected harm and its effects are widespread (for instance, in consumer protection affairs).