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21 October 2022
Issue: 7999 / Categories: Legal News , Competition , Collective action
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NLJ this week: Approach of the opt-out class actions?

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They’re massive, big money, headline-grabbing and share-price rocking—and possibly coming to a court near you! At least, that’s if the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) continues on its current path of greenlighting opt-out collective proceedings. 

In this week’s NLJ, Cameron Laing, associate at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan UK, examines the increasing number of applications for opt-out collective proceedings orders (CPO) on which the CAT has been adjudicating, and notes that, on the whole, the tribunal has tended to grant such applications.

Considering the CAT's approach to strike-out and summary dismissal of these claims, he writes: 'Its hesitance to exercise its discretion in these areas in CPO claims to date demonstrates that, post-Merricks, it is a very high threshold that a defendant needs to meet for a CPO claim to be struck out.

He also looks, in particular, at how the CAT’s assessment of the merits of claims has worked in practice.

Read Cameron's article in full here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Thackray Williams—Lucy Zhu

Thackray Williams—Lucy Zhu

Dual-qualified partner joins as head of commercial property department

Morgan Lewis—David A. McManus

Morgan Lewis—David A. McManus

Firm announces appointment of next chair

Burges Salmon—Rebecca Wilsker

Burges Salmon—Rebecca Wilsker

Director joins corporate team from the US

NEWS
What safeguards apply when trust corporations are appointed as deputy by the Court of Protection? 
Disputing parties are expected to take part in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), where this is suitable for their case. At what point, however, does refusing to participate cross the threshold of ‘unreasonable’ and attract adverse costs consequences?
When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
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