Trucks Cartel Decision: The Competition Appeal Tribunal to Review and Consider Claims for Compensation Based on Both Voluntary Participation and Exclusion from the Illegal Collusion
UK Truck Cartel: Competition Appeal Tribunal Sets Precedent for Future Collective Actions
In a significant development for competition law in the UK, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) is currently considering opt-out and opt-in claims against truck manufacturers involved in a cartel. The case, which involves medium and heavy trucks and lasted from 1997 to 2011, could set a precedent for future collective actions in the UK.
UK Trucks Claim Limited, a company that has filed an application for a collective proceeding order (CPO), marked the first such application since Walter Merricks' failed attempt to bring an opt-out collective claim against Mastercard. The European Commission imposed a fine of €2.93 billion on the cartel of truck manufacturers in 2016.
The manufacturers fined included MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco, and DAF. Scania, another truck manufacturer, was also part of the cartel but refused to settle and was fined €880 million in September 2017.
The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has also filed an application for an opt-in CPO, making this the first time that collective proceedings will be used in a truck cartel damages action in the UK. Around 3,500 companies have signed up to the RHA's opt-in action.
The CAT's decisions on these claims could have significant implications for future follow-on damages claims in the UK. The Tribunal's rulings test and develop the law on issues such as certification of collective claims, adequate representation, and scope of claims. These developments will guide how procedural hurdles are navigated in future follow-on damages claims.
The truck cartel case, with its high value and multiple claimants, serves as a benchmark for how future claims might be managed efficiently in the CAT. This may streamline litigation in other cartel follow-on claims, emphasizing collective proceedings as an effective avenue for affected parties.
The CAT has shown careful scrutiny and rigorous oversight of collective proceedings claims, dispelling concerns about an unchecked rise in mass litigation. This confirms that collective claims, including opt-out actions, are subject to thorough judicial gatekeeping, ensuring only well-founded claims progress.
The decisions reflect the UK’s deliberate policy to encourage private enforcement of competition law through collective actions. This increases access to justice for claimants harmed by cartels and incentivizes companies to comply with competition rules, knowing follow-on damages claims are realistically enforceable in both opt-in and opt-out formats.
If both claims proceed under CPOs, the CAT will need to decide how they should be managed most efficiently. The Tribunal may choose to exclude members of the RHA claim and known claimants from the defined class.
In sum, the CAT decisions in the truck cartel context have bolstered the framework for follow-on damages claims by confirming the soundness of collective proceedings approaches and encouraging more robust private competition enforcement in the UK. These rulings thus pave the way for more significant and coordinated claims against cartel infringements moving forward.
The unprecedented truck cartel case, with its potential for significant damages, might spur antitrust investigations in other sectors of the UK economy, such as education-and-self-development or sports, where collusive practices have impacted consumers. The effectiveness of collective proceedings, demonstrated in the truck cartel case, could provide a crucial avenue for education institutions, sport organizations, and individuals to seek reparations for any antitrust violations they may have suffered.
The success of collective actions in the truck cartel case could lead to an increased focus on antitrust education among students and athletes, empowering them to identify and report collusive practices, ensuring fair competition in their respective fields of education-and-self-development and sports.
