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Cases 1304 and 1305/7/7/19 – Gutmann v London & South Eastern Railway Limited and others
The Competition Appeal Tribunal has ordered a stay in the pending application for a Collective Proceedings Order in the “Boundary Fares” claims brought by Mr Justin Gutmann as the proposed representative of class of rail passengers against the operators of the South Eastern and Southwestern rail franchises.
In a ruling on 23 September 2019 the CAT concluded that this was sensible and practicable in light of the pending appeal to the Supreme Court in Merricks v Mastercard, which will consider various points, including the appropriate test for certification and whether or not it ought to be equivalent to that applicable in a strike-out application, as the Court of Appeal has held in Merricks.
The CAT did however agree with the parties that the issues in Gutmann concerning only the funding arrangements supporting the proposed class representative should continue to a one-day hearing on 7 November 2019. The Tribunal was satisfied that these issues were sufficiently distinct and would not be affected by the pending appeal in Merricks. This mirrors the approach taken by the Tribunal in the Trucks collective proceedings.
Philip Moser QC, Stefan Kuppen and Alexandra Littlewood of Monckton Chambers act for the proposed class representative Mr Gutmann.
Tim Ward QC and James Bourke of Monckton Chambers act for First MTR Southwestern Trains
Paul Harris QC, Laura Elizabeth John and Michael Armitage of Monckton Chambers act for London & South Eastern Railway
Members of Monckton Chambers are also involved in both the Trucks and Merricks cases.