Liam Colley and Anca Cojoc of Cornerstone Research and Helen Davies KC of Brick Court Chambers discuss the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s (CAT’s) treatment of the economic evidence in Trucks, with a focus on issues related to plausibility, empirical analysis of overcharge, and pass-on.
Royal Mail and BT v DAF Trucks Limited is the first case in the UK to deal with damages arising from the 14-year trucks cartel and only the second cartel damages case to reach judgment in the UK.
Mr Colley and Dr Cojoc join Helen Davies KC, a barrister at Brick Court Chambers, to discuss key takeaways from the recent seminal judgment in this matter.
Highlights from their wide-ranging conversation include:
- The unexpected debate over plausibility, with respect to the relationship between list and transaction prices
- The importance of econometrics in assessing the empirical evidence, notably the challenge of disentangling the cartel effect from other events happening simultaneously
- Opposing arguments for how the regulatory process would—or would not—facilitate pass-on of overcharge into retail prices
The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Cornerstone Research.
London
