Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan “overshot” the value of its proposed class action against MasterCard by around £5bn, The Lawyer understands.
The firm launched the case in July, revealing it would sue the payment processor for £19bn on behalf of British consumers.
It has since emerged the case will be valued at £14bn when it is filed with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in September.
Despite the climbdown, which is understood to relate to new details that emerged in a judgment on a related case, the claim will still be the largest ever to be heard before an English court.
The CAT will decide whether the mammoth challenge – involving a class of around 65 million customers – will be permitted to proceed under the new “opt out” rules for class actions in a hearing early next year.
Should the case go ahead, it will be just the second case ever brought under the new class action regime, which came into force last year.
Quinn Emanuel is understood to have knocked £5bn off the value of the claim following judgment in a similar case brought by Sainsbury’s Supermarkets against MasterCard, handed down in July.
Sainsbury’s was successful in its claim, also brought in relation to unlawfully high interchange fees. It was the first ruling in a raft of claims by high street retailers against MasterCard that will run in parallel to Quinn Emanuel’s consumer claim over the next few years.
The Lawyer revealed last week (18 August) MasterCard has put its defence on the colossal class action out to tender, inviting firms including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) to pitch for the lucrative mandate.
MasterCard is represented by Jones Day in the retailer claims.
Quinn Emanuel partners Boris Bronfentrinker and Kate Vernon have instructed Monckton Chambers’ Paul Harris QC and Brick Court Chambers’ Marie Demetriou QC on the claim, which is being funded by Gerchen Keller Capital.
