Environmental Class Actions
"Globes" Israel's Business NewspaperTzvi Levinson and Gil Dror, Advocates June 2006
Environmental class actions are used by civilians as a powerful tool against industries in order to obtain compensation for damage caused by pollution, or as a civil enforcement where the state does not enforce due to the lack of adequate resources or from other reasons. In 2006, the Class Actions Law was promulgated in Israel which includes specific reference enabling the submission of environmental class actions. The article reviews the risks arising from these proceedings, since environmental hazards such as air pollution and odor, marine pollution, water pollution, or hazardous materials incidents by their very nature affect wide population. In addition, the article outlines the required preparations needed to cope with the risk of environmental class actions.