Representatives leading the £17bn consumer claim against Mastercard will launch an ‘unprecedented’ marketing campaign to attract millions of people to join the action.
Following his success in the Court of Appeal last week, lead claimant Walter Merricks said this will represent the ‘largest public noticing campaign in UK legal history’. Funders will pump £600,000 into the print and digital advertising push targeting national, regional and social media channels.
The claim relies on a finding by the European Commission that Mastercard imposed unlawful fees on transactions processed through its network. The Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled earlier this year that anyone living in the UK when the claim form was filed in 2016 should be part of the class action. The Court of Appeal last week dismissed an appeal against the landmark decision to allow about three million now-dead people to be included.
Merricks said some 46 million people are in line for a pay-out of up to £300 each and he stressed that no-one will have to pay anything or risk anything to join.
He added: ‘Totalling up to £17bn, it’s the biggest claim in UK legal history. Not surprisingly Mastercard have been trying slow up the case ever since I started it six years ago. Its attempts to stop the case from proceeding have all failed. It’ll still take a while yet, but today is a key milestone.’
Merricks is being advised on the case by litigation firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Its team is led by partners Boris Bronfentrinker and Nicola Chesaites. Competition silks Marie Demetriou KC and Victoria Wakefield KC of Brick Court Chambers are instructed to represent the class of UK consumers. The 'noticing campaign' has been undertaken by class action administrators Epiq and its global noticing arm Hilsoft Notifications.
The case is the first mass consumer claim brought under the collective action regime introduced by parliament in the Consumer Rights Act 2015. The legislation was designed to enable collective actions to be brought by a class that has suffered loss due to competition law breaches.
A Mastercard spokesperson said: 'This case isn’t about helping consumers. This flawed claim is being pushed by lawyers and their financial backers trying to make money for themselves and is likely to take years to conclude. We'll continue to fight it and are confident that, once the facts are presented in court, the case will be thrown out.'
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