Ruling of the Tribunal in connection with an application made by the Class Representative (“CR”) to amend his claim form.
The proposed amendments were grouped under three heads – the “flexibility claim”, the “effects amendments” and an amendment to the class definition to capture all persons who made relevant purchases from 1 October 2015 to the date the amendment takes effect.
The flexibility claim is a claim for damages relating to class members who purchased Brand Restricted Fares and who suffered increased waiting and journey times as a result of being unable to travel on the next available train. The “effects amendments” concern the alleged anti-competitive effects arising from the abuse of dominance, including whether and to what extent the abuse of dominance had an impact on the prices of fares purchased by class members and service levels (in particular whether brand restrictions have given rise to longer waiting and journey times).
The Tribunal refused both the flexibility and the "effects" amendments. The Tribunal noted that the CR had not filed his case “in full” on 31 July 2024 as he was required to do pursuant to the Tribunal’s Order made on 23 November 2023. The CR’s case was materially incomplete in several respects. This failure was prejudicial to the Defendants (“Ds”). Further, the CR’s application for permission to amend had been made late in the proceedings.
As to the amendments to update the class, the Tribunal considered that the end-date should be the date at which the amendments take effect. The Tribunal did not accept the Ds’ submission that the end-date should be 31 July 2024. That was the date ordered for the CR to produce his full case, in order to allow further case management directions to be given.
