Daniel Beard QC's Library

National Grid Electricity Transmission plc v ABB Limited and others

In the latest ruling in the ongoing follow-on damages action by National Grid against members of an international gas-insulated switchgear cartel, Roth J has ruled that the French defendants are not subject to a real risk ...

Ryanair Holdings plc v Office of Fair Trading (Aer Lingus Group plc intervening)

On 28 July 2011, the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") gave judgment on the application by Ryanair Holdings plc ("Ryanair") for judicial review of the decision by the Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") that it would be in time (should it decide to ...

Enron Coal Services Limited v English Welsh & Scottish Railway

Enron Coal Services Limited's follow-on claim against English Welsh & Scottish Railway has done much to define the CAT's jurisdiction over follow-on claims under section 47A of the 1998 Act. The case was the first of its kind to reach a ...

BSkyB v Competition Commission

On 21 January 2010, the Court of Appeal (Rix LJ, Lloyd LJ and Mackay J) dismissed the appeal of British Sky Broadcasting Group plc ("Sky") against the decision of the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") of 29 September 2008 in which the CAT ...

Follow-on damages claims: The CAT or the High Court?

The recent decision of the Chancellor in National Grid Electricity Transmission PLC v ABB Limited and others [2009] EWHC 1326 (Ch) has made the High Court a more attractive forum for follow-on damages claims, at least in relation to decisions of ...

A Good Friday

There should have been gasps of relief in boardrooms across the country last Friday. Was it confidence, insouciance or ignorance that led to the deafening silence? Last year the High Court decided that the price of data concerning ...

Competition Update

Oh! The joy of seeing others suffer. Of watching while a regulator embroils its management in a detailed investigation; chastises them publicly in an infringement decision; and then imposes a walloping great fine. Ah! The ...

Judicial Review in the CAT

As the new UK competition law regime continues to unfold, the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") has recently registered two firsts in relation to its judicial review jurisdiction under the Enterprise Act 2002 ("the 2002 ...

Unichem Limited v Office of Fair Trading

This case involved the second full application to the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (the Tribunal) for a review of a decision of the OFT to clear a merger without a reference to the Competition Commission (CC) under s.120 of the ...

Apex: CAT on a Hot Tin Roof?

On 25 February 2005 the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") dismissed an appeal by Apex Asphalt and Paving Co. Limited ("Apex") against the OFT's decision on anti-competitive practices in the roofing industry. Apex was one of ...

Competition Law Update

It is not quite the Lord Mayor turning up for his parade wearing a hoodie, but there is undoubtedly a clash of culture between intellectual property lawyers and competition lawyers. The IP side has a tendency to see state granted monopolies ...

OFT v IBA Health

On 19 February 2004 the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in OFT v IBA Health - the first case to consider the new merger control regime established by the Enterprise Act 2002 ("the ...

Public Figures

It has long been conventional wisdom that public law proceedings did not give rise to any right to damages. However heinous the illegal action complained of, even if "so outrageous in its defiance of logic or accepted moral standards" ...

Competition Update

The Jerry Maguire principle seems to be ever more important in competition law. In the eponymous film, Jerry Maguire was the sports agent who got a conscience and ended up with only one client, Rod Tidwell. And though Rod liked Jerry, ...