The Court was asked: ‘To what extent, if at all, are factual findings made by the General Court of the European Union in its judgment on an application for annulment of a competition infringement decision of the European Commission binding as res judicata under EU law against the claimants in a private damages action for breach of competition law in the English court? ‘
Held: Pending the full hearing, an ECJ finding of fact that the Commission had not yet established the extent of a finished goods market in a competition infringement decision, was binding as res judicata under EU law against a claimant in private action for breach of competition law in the English court, since it was inseparable from the operative part of the judgment. Other factual findings not directly on the point were not binding and it was not an abuse of process under English law to allow the claimants to make arguments and adduce evidence inconsistent with those findings.
Judges:
Roth J
Citations:
[2019] EWHC 1004 (Ch), [2019] 5 CMLR 6
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – The Secretary of State for Health and Another v Servier Laboratories Ltd and Others CA 27-Jun-2019
The Court was asked how far the EU law principle of res judicata can be relied on by the Appellants as establishing facts which they wish to prove in their defences to the damages claims brought by the Respondents. Servier submits that certain . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
European, Commercial
Updated: 26 March 2022; Ref: scu.638179