Under the instruction of former chief financial services ombudsman Walter Merricks, law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan yesterday filed what is believed to be the largest class action lawsuit in UK legal history. The £14bn claim seeks to recover losses stemming from interchange fees charged to retailers by MasterCard between 1992 and 2007. It posits that these fees were unfairly and illegally passed onto consumers in the form of artificially inflated prices. The landmark claim stems from a 2014 ruling by the European Court of Justice which upheld a 2007 European Commission decision that the interchange fees charged by MasterCard in the 15-year timeframe breached European competition rules.
Making history
According to Mr Merricks, who is serving as the consumer representative for the claim, the MasterCard class action has the potential to become ‘a watershed moment for consumer redress’ in the UK. It is the first US-style ‘opt-out’ class action lawsuit to be lodged on behalf of all UK consumers under the Consumers Rights Act 2015. ‘The filing of this claim is the first step towards consumers obtaining compensation for what MasterCard did. I am confident that the CAT will authorise the claim to go forward, and I look forward to the opportunity to present our case,’ said Mr Merricks in a statement released by Quinn Emanuel. MasterCard confirmed at the end of August that it has instructed a team from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to defend it against the claim.
Sources: Law Gazette; Wall Street Journal
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