Class action lawsuit is a vital tool for collective justice, representing a complex aggregation of individual grievances. While a prolonged courtroom drama might seem like the ultimate pursuit of justice, global experience consistently shows that the settlement of claims is the most effective, equitable, and strategic way to resolve these disputes. This approach is particularly critical as class actions is increasingly adopted for the enforcement of the right of privacy, where the public is affected by a breach of privacy by a Data Controller. For Nigeria, embracing robust claim settlement mechanisms offers unparalleled benefits in its evolving legal landscape.
Settlement means reaching an agreement between the affected individuals and the defendant, bringing an end to the lawsuit without a full trial. This approach offers clear advantages for delivering remedies directly to claimants.
First, the settlement of claims champions efficiency and predictability. Unlike lengthy trials that drain time and resources, a settlement drastically shortens the path to resolution, allowing individual claimants to receive their due compensation or relief far more quickly.1 It replaces the unpredictable “all or nothing” nature of a court verdict with a guaranteed outcome for each claim, as parties control the terms and manage risks effectively. This significantly reduces financial implications and emotional toll that prolonged litigation, ensuring that individual claimants aren’t left waiting indefinitely for closure.
Secondly, claims settlements enable tailored and innovative remedies. Court judgments are often limited to standard monetary damages. However, through settlement, parties can craft creative solutions that directly address the specific harms suffered by each claimant. This can include anything from changes in corporate practices, product redesigns, or even non-monetary restitution directly benefiting the claimants. From a privacy professional’s standpoint, this flexibility is crucial. In data breach class actions, settlements can call for specific data security upgrades for the defendant. Furthermore, the settlement process provides a structured way to handle the personal data required for claim submission and verification, ensuring compliance with data protection principles throughout.
Global experience highlights these benefits in delivering justice through claims settlements. The Equifax Data Breach Settlement (2019) in the U.S. is a prime example of settlement of claims in privacy matters. Following a breach exposing millions of consumers’ data, Equifax settled for $425 million, providing direct compensation for individual claims, credit monitoring, and, significantly, committing to enhance its data security practices.
Similarly, the Lopez et al v. Apple Inc alleging Apple of a privacy breach by Siri, in 2025, Apple started accepting claims for privacy settlement of $95 million payout. This demonstrated how settlement can deliver tangible, privacy-specific relief and drive corporate accountability more swiftly than a trial.
For Nigeria, the efficient settlement of claims presents an indispensable value in its developing legal system. While class actions, often called “representative actions,” are gaining ground under existing civil procedure rules, the Nigerian judiciary is still building extensive expertise in managing their complexities. Litigation is expensive, and access to funding remains a challenge for many, making individual pursuit of justice daunting. Furthermore, even after a favorable judgment, enforcing compensation for thousands of individual claims can be a protracted hurdle.
This is where claim settlement becomes a critical solution for Nigeria. It expands access to justice for countless individuals who might otherwise lack the means to pursue their claims, particularly in cases of environmental damage, consumer harm, or increasingly, data privacy breaches. With the Nigerian Data Protection Act (NDPA 2023) now in force, we anticipate a rise in privacy-related class actions where secure and efficient claim processing will be paramount. Settlement offers a structured, less confrontational means to address these sensitive issues, allowing for remedies that protect individual data and compel better corporate security practices without the extensive public exposure inherent in a trial. By facilitating swift resolution, settlement fosters corporate accountability and conserves precious judicial resources to allow courts focus on other vital matters while individual claims are addressed.
To fully leverage the potential of settlement of claims in Nigeria, a multi-faceted approach is needed. This includes strengthening legal frameworks to explicitly encourage and regulate class action settlements, providing specialized training for judges in complex dispute resolution, and boosting public awareness about collective redress options. The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) plays an active role in scrutinizing and approving privacy-related settlements, ensuring that the process for individuals to submit and receive their claims meets robust data protection standards. In conclusion, the settlement of claims within a class action is not merely a compromise. It is a strategic imperative. For Nigeria, embracing the framework for efficient claim settlements offers a powerful mechanism to enhance access to justice, promote corporate accountability, safeguard individual privacy, and cultivate a more equitable ecosystem for the future
