One Essex Court barristers are regularly instructed in a wide array of group claims, collective proceedings and multi-party litigation. Members act both for claimant groups (often large groups of individuals), as well as for large corporates who find themselves on the receiving end of group actions.
The work handled by members of One Essex Court includes (but is not limited to): claims for breaches of competition regulations, including the operation of cartels in retail consumer markets; claims for damages by groups of individuals affected by man-made disasters; data breaches and data harvesting cases brought against large tech organisations; diesel emissions claims, where automobile manufacturers have been found to have installed ‘defeat devices’ in vehicles when rating their eco-friendly credentials; claims against card handling companies for fixing of interchange fees in breach of competition law; group claims for damages against freight companies manipulating the cost of haulage vehicles across Europe; manipulation by banks of the foreign exchange markets or LIBOR; and group shareholder actions brought against corporations for breaches of sections 90/90A FSMA, and schedule 10A FSMA.
Notable recent cases involving members of One Essex Court include:
- The Fundao Dam litigation (Mariana & ors v BHP Group plc): The largest (by number of Claimants) group litigation in England ever, brought by 700,000 Brazilian individuals, private businesses and various state municipalities against the mining company BHP Group in respect of the collapse of an iron ore tailings dam in Brazil.
- The VW Emissions Group Litigation: The largest ever Group Litigation Order made in English legal history. A multi-billion pound claim by over 100,000 purchasers of VW Group vehicles arising out of the well-known VW “diesel-gate” claim.
- Nissan UK and Renault Emissions Group Litigation: One of the very largest NOx Emissions Group Litigation cases, with over 1 million claimants and 1500 defendants across all of the actions, including the Nissan/Renault action.
- Volvo Emissions Group Litigation: NOx emissions group litigation involving over a million vehicles which were manufactured, marketed or sold by approximately 1,500 defendants.
- MasterCard/Visa litigation: Acting in multiple class actions including The Merchant Interchange Fee (MIF) Umbrella Proceedings (multi-billion pound claims against MasterCard and Visa concerning payment card interchange fees); Walter Merricks CBE v MasterCard Inc (the largest single claim in English legal history seeking over £14bn in damages); Commercial and Interregional Card Claims I; II; III and IV (multi-billion opt-in and opt-out claims against MasterCard and Visa); and Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd v Visa Europe Services LLC and Others (CAT, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court hearings in relation to payment card interchange fees).
Other notable cases:
- “The RBS Rights Issue” litigation - Greenwood & ors v Goodwin & Ors: Group action brought by various claimant parties, including institutional investors as well as thousands of claimants, seeking to recover c. £4bn in respect of the RBS Rights Issue litigation, described as “the biggest banking case of the decade” (The Lawyer).
- Tesco litigation: High profile proceedings by a group of institutional investors for damages under section 90A and schedule 10A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
- Greensill Bank Collapse litigation: Claims by Credit Suisse investors worth USD$345 million.
- Milasi Josiya & Ors v British American Tobacco PLC, British American Tobacco (GLP) Limited & Ors: Group claim by over 7,000 Malawian tobacco farmers for compensation/restitution under three causes of action: negligence, conversion and unjust enrichment. The claims arose out of high-profile complaints regarding working conditions on tobacco farms in Malawi on which the claimants worked.
- SKAT (SKATTEFORVALTNINGEN (the Danish Custom and Tax Administration) v SOLO CAPITAL PARTNERS LLP and others): A major fraud claim brought by the Danish revenue authority (SKAT) against more than 100 defendants to recover billions of pounds in damages.
- Uber litigation: Acting for Uber on group litigation aspects, in respect of claims by thousands of drivers in respect of employee rights.
- Ingenious tax avoidance schemes litigation: Market-leading fraud and professional negligence case by a large number of high net worth individuals arising out of the failure of the Ingenious tax avoidance schemes.
- The Grenfell Tower Inquiry: Claims on behalf of thousands of claimants arising out of the Grenfell Tower fire.
- Barclays litigation: Statutory misrepresentation claim by 130 claimants on behalf of around 500 funds under s. 90 / 90A of the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA).