Law digests: 6 March 2026

Competition

Stephan v Amazon.Com, Inc and others [2026] EWCA Civ 183

The Court of Appeal refused permission to appeal in both applications challenging decisions of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) to make two collective proceedings orders (CPOs) under s 47B of the Competition Act 1998 (CA 1998). The defendants, Amazon, sought permission to appeal CPOs granted to Robert Hammond on behalf of a class of consumers and to Professor Andreas Stephan on behalf of third-party sellers. Both claims alleged abuse of dominant position contrary to the Chapter II prohibition in s 18, CA 1998 and Art 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). In Mr Hammond’s case, Amazon challenged the CAT’s approach to the suitability of the class representative’s funding arrangements at certification stage, contending that the potential return to the funder was ‘wholly unreasonable’. The court held there was no arguable error of law; the CAT had not applied a default rule deferring consideration of funding reasonableness but exercised proper discretion, taking into account relevant factors.