The Competition Appeal Tribunal’s desire to breathe life into the collective proceedings regime is clear from its CPO approval rate & reluctance to strike out or summarily dismiss claims: Cameron Laing assesses the impact of its approach thus far
- The Competition Appeal Tribunal has been adjudicating on an increasing number of applications for opt-out collective proceedings orders. The tribunal has been routinely granting these kinds of applications.
- Prospective defendants who do not consider that claims brought against them have merit are able to apply for an order that the claims be struck out or summarily dismissed.
Since the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA 2015) came into force on 1 October 2015, the ability for a prospective claimant to bring a class action before the courts of the United Kingdom has been greatly enhanced. Previously, would-be litigants whose claims involved materially similar issues of law or fact were required to unify them by obtaining either a group litigation order (in which each claimant still has to initiate their own claim), or a direction for a representative action (which
