Simont Braun represents Test Achats in a major class action against Ryanair, which aims at obtaining indemnification for passengers who were victims of cancellations and delays of flights in summer 2018. The total compensation is estimated at €16 million.

On 7 December 2020, the Brussels Business Court declared this very large class action admissible. This is a significant victory for consumers’ rights given the number of people (about 30,000 passengers) represented in the context of a single class action in Belgium.

The Brussels Court set aside the provision of Ryanair’s general terms and conditions granting exclusive jurisdiction to Irish courts to hear the matter. This clause was considered as manifestly unfair – and this is a first in Belgian case law – towards all 30,000 passengers, building on the earlier case-law of the Belgian Supreme Court which had so far only examined such choice of court clause in individual cases. This is also the first time that a jurisdiction clause is declared null and void in the context of a class action in Belgium.

The Court also granted strong and very concrete publicity measures for this class action to ensure its efficiency (opt-in via e-mail – more information in this regard on Test Achats’ website).

This decision is a significant step for this exceptionally large class action in Belgium.

The Simont Braun’s team representing the interests in Test Achats is led by partner Rafaël Jafferali with the assistance of Fanny Laune (Counsel) and Charles-Edouard Lambert (Associate).