When Judge Antonin Scalia of the US Supreme Court banged his gavel last June, he seemed to put a stop to the practice of US shareholders chasing foreign companies through the country's courts for financial damages. So where do they turn next? To the Netherlands, it seems.

Yesterday, the first joint US-Europe legal action related to the financial crisis got underway in the Dutch city of Utrecht. The target is Ageas, an insurance company which is the legal successor to Fortis, the Belgo-Dutch bank brought down by its exposure to the US mortgage market and its participation in the deal to buy ABN Amro at the top of the market.