CAT issues Practice Direction on the conduct of collective proceedings following certification

 

CAT issues Practice Direction on the conduct of collective proceedings following certification

 

The Competition Appeal Tribunal (“Tribunal”) has issued Practice Direction 3/2022 relating to the conduct of collective proceedings after certification.

This practice direction follows the Tribunal’s May 2022 ruling on case management in Le Patourel v BT Group (“Le Patourel”).  Le Patourel decided that the same CAT tribunal would both deal with case management issues and hear the trial.  In the event that there is a collective settlement proposal, this would be dealt with by a separately constituted tribunal (a "settlement tribunal").

This approach differs from the usual approach in paragraph 6.7 of the CAT's Guide to Proceedings 2015 (which envisages the appointment of a "trial tribunal" to take over the conduct of proceedings from the "case management tribunal" that heard and decided the CPO application).

The most likely situation in which another tribunal may need to be constituted is if a collective settlement is proposed. In that event, the parties should notify the Registrar of the proposed collective settlement and request the constitution of a settlement tribunal to consider the proposed settlement and give or make any appropriate directions or orders.

This ensures that the trial tribunal can be kept apart from the consideration of any settlement and ready to continue to trial if necessary.

https://www.catribunal.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-08/01Aug2022_Practice%20Direction_ConductofCollectiveProceedingsAfterCertification_0.pdf

Le Patourel v. BT Group [2022] CAT 21