Article by Henry Warwick QC & Jack Castle – Collective Actions: better together?

Henry Warwick QC & Jack Castle report on an important year for collective proceedings & representative actions.

In Mastercard v Merricks [2020] UKSC 51, [2020] All ER (D) 67 (Dec), the Supreme Court has clarified the requirements for certification of collective proceedings in competition cases. This is a significant decision, likely to be relied upon by claimants seeking to recover follow-on damages for competition law infringements where difficult questions arise as to the quantification of loss and proposals for the distribution of any award of damages to the certified class. But the careful analysis of the common law as to quantification of loss, and the principled approach of the majority of the court to assessing suitability for collective proceedings, may encourage wider use of collective action procedures in cases where quantifying loss presents a challenge in underlying individual claims.

Please click download to view the pdf. The article was first published by www.newlawjournal.co.uk