London judge dismisses consumer class-action suit against Mastercard

LONDON: A judge rejected an application by a group representing 46 million consumers to pursue a suit against Mastercard Inc that would have been the largest of its kind since United States-style class actions were introduced in the United Kingdom.

The £14 billion (RM78 billion) suit initiated by Walter Merricks, a lawyer who once led the UK organisation that handles consumer disputes with banks, and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, came three years after a European Union court ruled the processing fees the company had charged for cross-border transactions were unfair.

Judge Peter Roth’s latest ruling could limit Britain as a destination for consumer class-action suits, an opportunity that opened up with a 2015 law change. Earlier this year, the same judge demanded more economic data from a group of consumers pursuing a claim against an American manufacturer. The rulings are part of the court trying to set limits on claims, lawyers said.

“This is a real setback for the collective proceedings regime,” said Marc Israel, a partner at White & Case.

Roth said on Friday the tribunal had “unanimously concluded claims are not suitable therefore the eligibility requirement is not satisfied”.

In a March ruling in the other case, Roth instructed a group seeking to bring a case against a US mobility scooter manufacturer to show how they were hurt monetarily in a set back for the UK’s first anti-trust class action.

“The mobility scooters case ended up being modest to the point it became uneconomic,” said Elaine Whiteford, partner in Covington’s Competition and Dispute Resolution team. “If you look at MasterCard, it’s the other extreme — a very ambitious claim — you have two extremes and maybe it’s not that surprising that neither of them have progressed.” Bloomberg