Up in the rarefied heights of Court 76 at the Royal Courts of Justice, the Administrative Court has this week been hearing arguments in the latest episode of the long-running epic Merricks v Mastercard. 

Court 76, of course, was the venue for Prince Harry’s battle with the Mail earlier this year. It was fair to say that the press seats were less busy for this one. Obiter was there to hear the latest challenge by funder Innsworth Capital to the distribution arrangements signed off last year. 

At this week’s hearing, Innsworth’s two counsel were backed by a formidable legal team from Akin Gump. In theory, the defendant was listed as the Competition Appeal Tribunal; in practice, it was ‘interested parties’ Walter Hugh Merricks CBE, his solicitor Boris Bronfentrinker of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and counsel for the Access to Justice Foundation and Mastercard. (One of the odder aspects of the saga is the way that the class representative and defendant are now besties.)

In the process, Lord Justice Males, presiding with Mr Justice Morris, has become the latest senior judge to get his head around the Competition Appeal Tribunal collective actions regime. Surely, he mused, if all 44 million of the potential class members came forward, ‘everyone would get three and fourpence and nobody would bother’. (For younger readers, that’s a bit less than 17p.)

Quite so, Charles Béar KC explained: that is why the settlement dosh has been ring-fenced. 

Merricks v Mastercard will celebrate its 10th birthday this September. As Merricks observes, a class representative is not just for Christmas.

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