The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has handed down a judgment granting the Road Haulage Association (RHA) permission to bring opt-in collective proceedings against various truck manufacturers.

In the same judgment, the CAT has dismissed a rival opt-out application brought by UK Trucks Claim Ltd (UKTC). The RHA claim therefore becomes the first opt-in case to proceed under the UK’s collective proceedings regime and the UKTC claim becomes one of a small number of opt-out cases to be dismissed at the certification stage.

Both claims sought damages on behalf of large numbers of class members based on a European Commission antitrust infringement decision relating to new medium and heavy duty trucks. The RHA claim was brought in respect of new and used trucks purchased in the UK and other European countries between 1997 and 2019, sought to recover compound interest losses, and included six sub-classes.

The CAT certified the elements of RHA’s claim relating to new trucks purchased in the UK between 1997 and 2014 and used trucks purchased in the UK between 1997 and 2015. It dismissed the RHA’s claims relating to trucks purchased outside of the UK, compound interest, the remainder of the time period to 2019, and certain types of class members. The CAT also declined to define sub-classes.

Zoltan Biro, a Director in Frontier’s competition practice, provided expert evidence for the certification hearing on behalf of Volvo Group. This evidence was relied upon by the CAT in its decisions to exclude trucks purchased outside of the UK and not to adopt the sub-classes proposed by the RHA. Click here to read the full judgment.

Frontier regularly advises clients on competition issues, including parties to a number of collective proceedings before the CAT. Read our thoughts on the future of class actions here and on the evolution of the trucks litigation here.

For further information please contact media@frontier-economics.com or call +44 (0) 20 7031 7000.