Setting the standard for opt-out collective redress: the Supreme Court’s judgment in Merricks, reported by Lucy Rigby
- The Supreme Court’s recent judgment in Merricks sets the standard which existing and future opt-out collective actions will be required to meet at the certification stage.
- This judgment is a seminal one for the country’s young opt-out regime and a ringing endorsement of the principles behind the introduction of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
- The judgment is consumer-friendly and it is expected that more opt-out collective actions will now be filed.
What standard ought an opt-out collective claim be required to meet to proceed to trial? That, in essence, was the question before the Supreme Court in Mastercard Incorporated and others v Merricks [2020] UKSC 51, [2020] All ER (D) 67 (Dec). The Supreme Court’s answer, delivered in December of last year, constitutes a resounding endorsement of opt-out redress and the most significant ruling to date for the UK’s fledgling opt-out collective regime for infringements of competition law.
Justice delayed
Many judgments
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