Two wrongs don’t make a right: The Supreme Court’s Decision in R (Gallaher and Somerfield) v Competition and Markets Authority [2018] UKSC 25

17 May 2018

The Supreme Court has considered the way in which the OFT conducted its ‘Early Resolution’ settlement negotiations with parties who were subject to its tobacco investigation.  In overturning the decision of the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court has held that a mistake made to the benefit of one party in a settlement negotiation is not required to be replicated to the benefit of other similarly situated parties. It so concluded on the basis of traditional principles of public law rationality, rejecting the opportunity to fashion any stand-alone principle relating to mistakes in public law.

Daniel Beard QC and Brendan McGurk acted for the successful appellant, the CMA.

Click here for the full judgment.

Search
Menu