Weekly law digests

Civil litigation
Bailey and others v GlaxoSmithKline [2019] EWCA Civ 1924, [2019] All ER (D) 65 (Nov)

In a group action by the claimants against the defendant pharmaceutical company concerning an antidepressant drug, Seroxat, alleged to be defective under s 3 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987, the Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the claimants appeal against a preliminary ruling of the Queen’s Bench Division. The appeal court ruled that the claimants had not been entitled to put their case on a risk/benefit basis at the start of the trial, as previous case management rulings had held that the case was to be based on ‘the worst in the class’ scenario basis.

Contempt of court
Jet 2 Holidays Ltd v Hughes and another [2019] EWCA Civ 1858, [2019] All ER (D) 66 (Nov)

A witness statement, verified by a statement of truth, made by a prospective claimant before the commencement of proceedings, in purported compliance with a pre-action protocol, could give rise to contempt and be the subject of an application for committal for