On Wednesday 5 June 2024, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) certified an opt-out class action lawsuit brought on behalf of UK publishers against Google.
The claim is put forward by Ad Tech Collective Action LLP, led by Claudio Pollack, Charles Arthur, and Kate Wellington. As a result of the CAT’s judgement, the matter will now proceed to trial.
Google is alleged to have engaged in a series of anticompetitive conducts in markets related to the provision of online display advertising services in the UK, resulting in significant losses to publishers. If the allegations are ultimately borne out at trial, preliminary estimates suggest damages in the billions of pounds.
Related conduct has already seen Google fined by the French Competition Authority and subject to ongoing antitrust proceedings in the US, in Europe, and in the UK.
CRA was instructed by Geradin Partners, Humphries Kerstetter, and Hausfeld to compute preliminary damage estimates and to set out a methodology offering a clear blueprint to trial – the relevant legal benchmark at the certification stage of such proceedings. Having reviewed the expert reports submitted the CAT found that this threshold was indeed met and that the class could therefore be certified.
The team was led by Oliver Latham and Mikaël Hervé and included Jakub Drabik, Elise Abraham, Charlie Whitehead, Steven Yang, Charles Conquest and Hannah Chen.
