Hot Legal Topics — Friday

Period: Last 3 days (Tue–Thu, 28/07 – 30/07/2026)

New Legislation / EU Directives

• Guidelines at the Interface of Data Protection and Competition Law: The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and the European Commission are preparing new guidelines to govern the interaction between competition law and data protection [1]. This regulatory harmonisation could provide novel approaches for combined damages claims in the Big Tech sector [1].
• Tightening of GDPR Enforcement on "Informed Consent": The organisation noyb has filed a complaint challenging the "1,741 partners" framework used in cookie banners [2]. Should regulators follow this line of argument, website operators whose consent mechanisms are deemed insufficiently "informed" or "voluntary" could face a significant wave of claims [2].

BGH / Landmark Judgments

• Unlawful Annual Fees in Home Savings Contracts: In landmark proceedings against Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen, the BGH held that annual fees charged on Riester home savings contracts are unlawful [3]. The Higher Regional Courts of Stuttgart and Munich concurrently declared similar contractual clauses to be void [4, 5]. This has far-reaching implications for the industry, as affected savers may now assert claims for reimbursement [3, 4].
• Stricter Standards for Medical Quality Seals: The BGH has substantially raised the bar for the accuracy and transparency requirements applicable to commercial medical quality seals (e.g. "Focus Gesundheit") [6, 7]. This opens the door to mass proceedings under unfair competition law against platforms employing misleading quality endorsements [6, 7].
• GDPR in the Private Sphere: The BGH is currently deliberating on whether the forwarding of private WhatsApp messages to third parties constitutes a GDPR infringement [8]. A ruling could fundamentally alter liability in both private and professional data exchanges, potentially giving rise to an entirely new category of data protection claims [8].

Trends in Litigation Funding & Legal Tech

• Expansion into the Crypto Sector: Litigation funders such as Legal Bay are significantly expanding their portfolios to include cases of cryptocurrency fraud [9]. This signals a broader trend towards making illiquid claims arising from crypto assets actionable through external capital [9].
• Mass Claims Against Google in the EU: Funders are currently backing a new wave of multi-billion euro damages claims brought by competitors against Google within the EU [9]. This underscores funders' growing appetite for risk in complex competition law damages matters [9].
• Record Returns in Arbitration: Funder Burford Capital anticipates a pay-out of over USD 250 million from a successful arbitration award (the Mbalam dispute) [10, 11]. Such high-profile successes are reinforcing the influx of capital into the commercial litigation funding market [11].