Damages

Many competition laws provide for claims regarding damages by those who have suffered injury from an infringement to the competition law. For example, those who have had to pay higher prices as a result of cartel violations, have the possibility to claim for damages, as restitution of the amounts for which they have been spoliated.

Source: UNCTAD

Advocate General, Damages, Disclosure, European Court of Justice, Evidence, Private actions, Private enforcement

(Latham & Watkins LLP) and (University of Vienna, Austria)/ /Leave a comment

Recent posts on this blog (here) have already highlighted the role that the adoption of Directive 2014/104/EU (Damages Directive or Directive) and the European Commission’s (EC) decision in case AT.39824 – Trucks, amongst other events, have played as turning points in private enforcement of competition law in the EU. The Directive has led not only…

Competition Law 2021, Damages, Digital economy, Dominance, Enforcement, Germany, Horizontal, Judicial review, Litigation, Merger control, Online platforms, Price fixing, Rebates, Uncategorized

(Heinz & Zagrosek Partner mbB, Germany)/ /Leave a comment

The following is a selection of some of the most important developments in German competition law and policy in 2021.  It has been a busy year for the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”), inter alia because the new rules for digital companies took effect.  The following covers cases under these new rules, abuse of dominance, merger…

Damages, Private enforcement, Slovakia, Stand-alone action

(WISE3 s. r. o.)/ /Leave a comment

In any system, the competition regulator’s ability to investigate, sanction, and remedy competition grievances are directly dependent on the size of resources (financial, personal, and informational) that regulator has at their disposal. Competition regulators have been known to issue policies setting priority areas for competition law enforcement based on sectoral and severity criteria to overcome…

Advocate General, Damages, European Union, Limitation Period, Private actions, Private enforcement

(Universitat Pompeu Fabra)/ /Leave a comment

Advocate General Rantos delivered his Opinion in a request of a preliminary ruling by a Spanish court (case C-267/20), the Audiencia Provincial of León, the appellate court in a trucks’ cartel damages claim. In particular, Advocate General Rantos Opinion deals with the temporal scope of application of the Damages Directive; the “substantive” or “procedural” nature…

Damages, Fair Fund, Leniency, Private actions, Private enforcement

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

Europe’s leniency programs face a problem. Creating an incentive for private enforcement with the 2014 Damages Directive came at the expense of leniency applications all over the EU. A further balance of public and private enforcement will be necessary. Many approaches have been discussed. Recently, calls for exemptions or limitations of civil liability for leniency…

Class action, Damages, Portugal, Private enforcement

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On 20 September 2021, the Portuguese Competition Court approved a settlement between Ius Omnibus, a non-profit consumer protection association, and the National Association of Land Surveyors (ANT), in the context of a class action filed by Ius Omnibus intended to obtain compensation for the damages suffered by consumers as a result of ANT’s allegedly anticompetitive…

Damages, European Court of Justice, Liability, Parental liability, Private enforcement

(Latham & Watkins LLP)/ /1 Comment

On 6 October 2021, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued its very much-awaited judgment in case C-882/19 Sumal, one of the most important cases in private enforcement of competition law of the last years. For those of you that are new to the case, the facts are as follows. On 24 October 2019, the Audiencia…

Damages, Economics, Evidence, Germany

(University of Vienna, Austria)/ /3 Comments

Last week, the German Federal Court of Justice published its April 2021 judgment in Trucks II. The German Court – always good for a surprise – was overall less favourable to the claimant. In particular, it emphasised the role of economic party opinions and regression analysis, especially in relation to the factual presumption of price…

Damages, European Court of Justice, European Union, Jurisdiction, Private enforcement

(bureau Brandeis Paris)/ /Leave a comment

The Court of Justice of the European Union provides useful guidance on the interpretation of the concept of “the place where the damage occurred” to ascertain which court within a Member State has jurisdiction over a follow-on cartel damages claim. Pursuant to settled case-law interpreting Article 7(2) Brussels I bis[1], the court having jurisdiction over…

Damages, Netherlands

(Bird & Bird, Netherlands) and (Bird & Bird)/ /Leave a comment

In this latest instalment of the Trucks Cartel saga, the Amsterdam District Court (“District Court”) refutes the cartelists’ arguments by ruling that the issue of the award of damages is still on the table.[1] The liability of the cartelist is thereby established. This is the first step in the actual award of damages. The next…