Alan Owens predicts a long wait if the UK is to adopt a class action regime
There has in recent years been much debate about the development of collective action mechanisms both at national and European levels. In the case of Emerald Supplies Ltd v British Airways Plc [2009] EWHC 741 (Ch) the chancellor of the High Court struck out the representative element of a claimant’s claim concerning alleged anti-competitive agreements which have been the subject of prosecutions in the US and on-going investigations by the European Commission. The decision highlights the status of the current collective mechanisms in the UK.
The claim
The claimants imported cut flowers from Columbia and Kenya and used the air freight services of British Airways (BA) and other international airlines. The claimants alleged that BA had been a party to agreements and concerted practices with other international airlines directly or indirectly to fix the prices at which air freight services are supplied or to control or share the market for that supply with the object or effect of such agreements or practices to prevent or distort competition.
