US: Quinn Emanuel to revive £14B Mastercard class action

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the firm behind the GBP£14 billion (US$15.2 billion) consumer collective action which was rejected by the United Kingdom’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in July, has confirmed the ruling will be appealed.

Following the rejection by the CAT of the GBP£14 billion (US$15.2 billion) consumer opt-out collective action brought against MasterCard by Walter Merricks CBE on behalf of thousands of MasterCard consumers, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the firm representing Merricks, has confirmed than an appeal is being sought.

Boris Bronfentrinker, a partner at the firm, said, “Together with Mr Merrick’s team of highly experienced barristers, we have carefully analysed and considered the tribunal’s judgment and identified a number of manifest errors in the reasoning and approach of the tribunal.

“As the first mass consumer collective action, and given the size of the class, complex issues have been raised that the English courts have not had to consider previously.”

Ruling in Walter Merricks CBE v MasterCard Inc and Others, Mr Justice Peter Roth dismissed the claimant’s application to certify the proceedings under the Competition Act 1998. The tribunal accepted Mastercard’s arguments that, even if loss had been suffered and could be estimated across the whole class, there was no way of ensuring that a class member would receive distribution of an amount compensating any actual loss suffered.

The case was one of the first to be brought under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which provides for so-called ‘opt-out’ collective proceedings on behalf of a class of individuals.

Full Content: The Lawyer

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