About the Claim
This website has been created to provide information about a proposed collective consumer claim against MasterCard that has been filed with the Competition Appeal Tribunal by Walter Merricks CBE (the proposed class representative) on behalf of a proposed “class” of individuals.
The proposed claim relies on a legal finding of the European Commission that MasterCard imposed unlawful fees on transactions processed through its network. These fees were paid by businesses for accepting payments made with a MasterCard credit or debit card in the period 1992 to 2008. More than half a million businesses in the UK, including major supermarkets, that accepted MasterCard cards in the relevant period, paid these unlawful fees, and it is alleged passed these on to consumers in higher retail prices.
The proposed claim says that if between 22 May 1992 and 21 June 2008 you purchased goods and/or services from businesses selling in the UK that accepted MasterCard cards, at a time at which you were both (1) a resident in the UK for a continuous period of at least three months, and (2) aged 16 years or over, you paid higher prices as a result of MasterCard’s unlawful conduct. It is proposed that the claim will be brought on behalf of a class of individuals who meet these conditions with the exception of the categories of persons described in FAQ 6.
You can click on the link below to see the full Collective Proceedings Application Notice, which includes detailed information about the claim and the proposed class representative. Other key documents related to the claim can be found on the “Documents” tab at the top of this page.
The hearing of the application for a collective proceedings order took place on 18-20 January 2017 at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, Victoria House, Bloomsbury Place, London WC1A 2EB. The Tribunal heard argument on whether the claim should be allowed to proceed as an opt-out collective action. The transcripts of the hearing are available in the “Documents” tab at the top of this page.
The Tribunal delivered its judgment on 21 July 2017 and dismissed the application. On the same day, Mr Merricks issued a statement responding to the Tribunal’s decision and that statement is available here.
On 10 August 2017, an application for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal was filed with the Tribunal by Mr Merricks's lawyers. That application can be found here.
On 14 August 2017, a press release regarding the application for permission to appeal was issued and the press release is available here.
