U.K. lawyer wants to appeal dismissal of Mastercard fee suit

A U.K. law firm has filed for permission to appeal a London judge’s recent decision to dismiss a £14 billion ($US 18 billion) class action lawsuit alleging Mastercard overcharged consumers.

The U.K.’s Competition Appeal Tribunal judge dismissed the lawsuit against Mastercard last month, citing a lack of sufficient evidence showing how businesses passed the fees they pay to accept credit and debit cards on to consumers, and a way to account losses suffered by each of 46 million consumers in the class.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

In an application for permission to repeal the earlier decision, Walter Merricks, a consumer ombudsman represented by the U.K. law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, said the tribunal judge's analysis of the case was wrong, according to a Monday press release.

“The conclusion that it would not be enough for me to prove the loss suffered by the class as a whole and that I needed to show that I could calculate the actual loss suffered by each individual consumer cannot be correct,” Merricks said in the press release.

Merricks is seeking either a direct appeal to the Court of Appeals or the opportunity to bring the case before the U.K.’s Administrative Court for judicial review.

Mastercard has until Sept. 8 to respond.