header-logo header-logo

Mastercard loses latest appeal against opt-out class action

07 December 2022
Issue: 8006 / Categories: Legal News , Collective action , Competition
printer mail-detail
Mastercard has lost its latest appeal against the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) decision to certify an ‘opt-out’ class action.

The Court of Appeal’s unanimous dismissal means about three million people who died between September 2016 when the claim was filed and August 2021 when the CAT certified the claim will be succeeded by representatives of their estate. Individuals who have died since August 2021 will also be succeeded, but this was not an issue in the appeal.

The pioneering billion-pound class action is being brought by personal finance campaigner Walter Merricks over multilateral interchange fees charged by Mastercard.

Boris Bronfentrinker, partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, representing Merricks, said the judgment in Mastercard v Merricks [2022] EWCA Civ 1568 ‘finally brings to an end the battle to get the collective proceedings certified, a battle that started over six years ago. The scope of the class represented by Mr Merricks is now settled’.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Freeths—Ruth Clare

Freeths—Ruth Clare

National real estate team bolstered by partner hire in Manchester

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Partner appointed head of family team

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

Firm strengthens agriculture and rural affairs team with partner return

NEWS
Conveyancing lawyers have enjoyed a rapid win after campaigning against UK Finance’s decision to charge for access to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has launched a recruitment drive for talented early career and more senior barristers and solicitors
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
A Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruling has reopened debate on the availability of ‘user damages’ in competition claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Edward Nyman of Hausfeld explains how the CAT allowed Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen’s alternative damages case against Meta to proceed, rejecting arguments that such damages are barred in competition law
back-to-top-scroll