Veteran solicitor Walter Merricks CBE is about to take on a new class action challenge even as his legal battle with the funder in the nine-year litigation against Mastercard remains to be settled. Merricks revealed last night that he is applying to take over as proposed class representative in a Competition Appeal Tribunal action against Govia Thameslink.
The claim, filed in 2021, is currently paused following the death of previous class representative David Boyle, who had suffered from Parkinson's disease. It seeks damages for losses allegedly suffered by rail passengers travelling on the London to Brighton mainline as a result of pricing and other practices of Govia Thameslink Railway Limited. In 2022, then CAT president Sir Marcus Smith ruled on an application to vary the particulars of claim.
Merricks told the autumn conference of the Collective Redress Lawyers Association that he was 'still in the thick of' his nine-year action against Mastercard owing to the attempt by funder Innsworth to challenge the £200 million settlement. He revealed that the Administrative Court is to conduct an oral hearing early next year on Innsworth's application for jurdicial review. 'Until the JR is resolved, I can't distribute any money,' he said.
In a strong attack on his erstwhile ally, Merricks described Innsworth as an 'embarrassment to the rest of the funding community'. He attacked as 'totally unsuitable' the funder's use of the arbitration process to resolve a claim against him personally, saying 'the proper forum for resolution of such a dispute is a public hearing before the CAT'.
Merricks noted that the 'unedifying saga' of his dispute with Innsworth had been played out in full view of the Association of Litigation Funders, the Department for Business and campaign group Fair Civil Justice which 'will no doubt want to use this story to conclude that the class action regime is failing', he said.
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