Private enforcement

Advocate General, Disclosure, European Union, Evidence, Private enforcement

(Clifford Chance)/ /Leave a comment

I. Executive Summary The opinion delivered on 12 June 2025 by Advocate General Maciej Szpunar (“AG“) before the European Court of Justice (“ECJ“) in Case C-286/24 Meliá Hotels International v Associação Ius Omnibus has a clarifying effect in the still relatively new regime of private enforcement of cartel law with regard to the handling of…

Europe, Liability, Litigation, Private enforcement, State aid

(Szecskay Attorneys at Law, Hungary)/ /Leave a comment

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last decade, you’ll know that private enforcement of antitrust is now big business, spurred on by the Damages Directive and industrious claimant-side law firms. Yet, one key player remains curiously passive in many Member States: the State itself.   While public procurement markets are among the most vulnerable…

European Court of Justice, Limitation Period, Litigation, Private enforcement

(Uría Menéndez)/ /1 Comment

Limitation periods are a gating item that determines if a claim will go forward. When arguing (and counter arguing) if a competition law damages claim is time-barred, the parties usually focus on the moment the period started running (i.e. the dies a quo) rather than the duration of the period or whether it was correctly…

Cartels, Class action, Collective Redress, Consumer protection, Damages, European Court of Justice, European Union, Germany, Principle of Effectiveness, Private actions, Private enforcement, Procedures

(University of Vienna, Austria) and (University of Göttingen, Germany)/ /Leave a comment

In Tuesday’s judgment C-253/53 – ASG 2, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) provides some clarification on the compatibility of German rules restricting the fiduciary assignment of cartel damage claims to a provider of legal services with the principle of effectiveness and the right to effective judicial protection in EU law. The ECJ took a…

Collective Redress, Germany, Private enforcement, Procedures

(Universität Regensburg)/ /2 Comments

The term “Assignment Model” refers to a mechanism of bundling damage claims. It is not a statutory instrument, but in some Member States, such as Germany, it is possible as a workaround. The Landgericht Dortmund (Regional Court of Dortmund) decided on referring to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling in the Roundwood Case asking about…

Advocate General, Damages, Disclosure, Enforcement, Leniency, Private enforcement, Procedures, Public procurement, Settlement

(University of Vienna)/ /Leave a comment

The scope of the protection of leniency documents appears to be the central issue when it comes to the discussion about whether there is a conflict between private and public enforcement. AG Szpunar’s statements in the recently published Opinion (C-2/23) have now shed light on the CJEU’s possible direction for how to deal with this…

Cartels, Damages, Estimation, Litigation, Presumptions, Private enforcement, Spain

(IE Law School)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction The Civil Chamber of the Spanish Supreme Court has already issued forty judgments ruling on appeals against judgments of the Courts of Appeal on claims for damages caused by the truck cartel. The Courts of Appeal have now handed down 4315 rulings on compensation for more than 25,000 cartelized trucks, 95% of them (partially)…

Damages, European Court of Justice, Limitation Period, Principle of Effectiveness, Private enforcement

(Court of Justice of the European Union)/ /Leave a comment

According to the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, the two greatest tyrants on Earth are chance and time. The word ‘tyrant’ is derived from Ancient Greek ‘tyrannos’ to describe an ‘absolute ruler unrestrained by law or constitution’. Certainly, actions for damages in competition law may depend on numerous factors substantially determined by chance (e.g. questions…

Class action, Collective Redress, Competition proceedings, Damages, Germany, Private enforcement

(University of Vienna, Austria)/ /Leave a comment

With the (belated) transposition of the EU Representative Actions Directive (RAD) on 13 October 2023 by means of the RAD Implementing Act (Verbandsklagenrichtlinienumsetzungsgesetz – non-German speakers, I treat you to a beer if you can properly pronounce this Zungenbrecher), the German legislator has ventured new legal territory for collective actions. Now, four main models build the…

Cartels, Damages, Estimation, Germany, Private enforcement

(CDC Cartel Damage Claims Consulting)/ /Leave a comment

“The estimated damage cannot be less than 5% of the purchase price paid for reasons of effectiveness under EU law.” This was recently stated by the German Federal Court of Justice about claims for damages due to the Dieselgate scandal. However, the Court’s reasoning in favour of this legal lower limit for damages might equally,…