A priceless opportunity: class actions post-Merricks v Mastercard
In 2015, the United Kingdom Parliament enacted an opt-out class action for competition law grievances. The second class action filed under that regime, Merricks v Mastercard Inc, is a unique and vast case, involving most of the adult population of the UK over the 16-year class action period. It was appealed to the UK Supreme Court on two issues: the evidentiary threshold necessary to establish an aggregation of damages across the 46 million class members; and whether the compensation payable to each class member has to match the actual loss suffered. Finding in favour of the representative claimant on both issues, the Supreme Court has provided both valuable guidance on points of statutory interpretation, and supportive endorsement of the concept of opt-out class actions more generally.