Tag Archives: strike-out

Conspiracy in the CAT: the scope of section 47A

What kinds of “follow-on” claims may be brought in the CAT?  ‘[A]ny claim for damages, or any other claim for a sum of money which a person who has suffered loss or damage as a result of the infringement of a relevant prohibition may make in civil proceedings brought in any part of the United Kingdom’, according to section 47A(1) of the Competition Act.  A ‘relevant prohibition’ for this purpose is of course defined as any of the Chapter I and II prohibitions or the prohibitions in Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty.

The most obvious section 47A claim is a claim in tort for breach of statutory duty.  But what other causes of action fall within the scope of the section?

That question has been considered judicially for the first time in W. H. Newson Holding Ltd & ors. v IMI plc & ors. [2012] EWHC 3680 (Ch), a case arising out of the copper plumbing tubes cartel. Continue reading

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Filed under Agreements, Damages, Procedure

Special pleading? Toshiba Carrier and the industrial tubes cartel

The Court of Appeal’s judgment last Friday in KME Yorkshire Ltd & ors v Toshiba Carrier UK Ltd & ors [2012] EWCA Civ 1990 will gladden the hearts of Article 101 damages claimants.  It confirms that the Court will be generous in assessing the adequacy of a claimant’s pleaded case – at least where a Commission decision has already established the existence of a cartel.

By a Decision dated 16 December 2003, the Commission found that three manufacturers of industrial copper tubes had between 1988 and 2001 operated a price-fixing and market-sharing cartel under cover of a trade association. Continue reading

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Filed under Agreements, Damages, Procedure