A £14 billion class action lawsuit against Mastercard interchange fees has moved a step closer to trial following a failed last ditch attempt by the card scheme to derail the claim.
The Competition Appeals Tribunal in March this year ruled that former head of the UK Financial Ombudsman Service Walter Merricks could represent every class member who was alive on 6 September 2016, and has since died in the ongoing litigation.
This follows an August ruling that gave Merrick the go-ahead to sue Mastercard on behalf of 46 million claimants in the case, who would receive around £300 each if successful.
Mastercard kicked the March ruling back to the Appeals Tribunal, which has come down in favour of the claimant, meaning that the estates of approximately 3 million deceased individuals will be able to recover compensation in the event of a favourable judgement.
Boris Bronfentrinker, lead partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher representing Merrick says: "Today’s unanimous appeal judgment from the Court of Appeal, finally brings to an end the battle to get the collective proceedings certified, a battle that started over six years ago. Along the way, Mastercard has brought a number of appeals, all of which have proven to be unsuccessful, and served to only delay these collective proceedings on behalf of UK consumers and unnecessarily run up legal costs. Mr Merricks is pleased with today’s judgment and looks forward to now prevailing on the merits to secure the billions in damages owed by Mastercard to UK consumers."