Judgment of the Tribunal in respect of applications by proposed defendant SGL, Schunk and Carbone Lorraine to recover their costs occasioned by the claimants’ application for permission to commence a follow-on action for damages under section 47A of the Competition Act 1998.
The Tribunal held that it had jurisdiction to award costs under rule 55 of the Tribunal Rules in respect of an application for permission to bring a follow-on damages action. The Tribunal ruled in particular that there was no reason in principle why a proposed defendant who had exercised its statutory right to be heard, and had successfully resisted a permission application, should be denied the right to apply to recover some or all of the costs incurred in making those observations to the Tribunal.
The Tribunal concluded that it was appropriate to make an order for costs in favour of the proposed defendants in this case. The Tribunal determined that the claimants should pay the proposed defendants sums representing 50% of the proposed defendants' costs of and incidental to the applications for permission; the 50% discount reflected the amount of time and costs incurred in relation to jurisdictional issues.
