Mastercard’s £14B Class Action Lawsuit Appeal Is Rejected

A £14 billion class action lawsuit against Mastercard interchange fees is one step closer to trial after the card system failed in a last-ditch effort to dismiss the claim.

In March of this year, the Competition Appeals Tribunal found that former head of the UK Financial Ombudsman Service, Walter Merricks, may represent any class member who was alive on September 6, 2016, but has subsequently died as a result of the continuing case.

This follows an August judgement that authorised Merrick to sue Mastercard on behalf of 46 million claimants, who, if successful, would get almost £300 apiece.

Mastercard remanded the March verdict to the Appeals Tribunal, which ruled in favour of the claimant, indicating that the estates of around 3 million decedents would be eligible for compensation in the case of a favourable ruling.

Boris Bronfentrinker, a senior partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, represents Merrick says:

“Today’s unanimous appeal judgement from the Court of Appeal finally brings to an end the battle to get the collective proceedings certified, a battle that started over six years ago. Along the way, Mastercard has brought a number of appeals, all of which have proven to be unsuccessful and served to only delay these collective proceedings on behalf of UK consumers and unnecessarily run up legal costs. Mr Merricks is pleased with today’s judgement and looks forward to now prevailing on the merits to secure the billions in damages owed by Mastercard to UK consumers.”