Authors' reply

摘要

We agree with Flora van Leeuwen and colleagues that the Dutch collective settlement has its merits, but avoiding lengthy court procedures is not one of them In 1986, six DES daughters started the first court case in the Netherlands against ten companies In 1992 it was abandoned in anticipation of the outcome of the negotiations for this collective settlement Ultimately, however, the agreement was not reached until November, 2005, and was only confirmed by the Court of Amsterdam in June, 2006 If, 14 years earlier, the courts had ruled in favour of the original six plaintiffs, compensation settlements would probably have followed for others without the need for expensive court procedures