Competition litigation looks set to surge following a European Court of Justice opinion, handed down last week, which said that parties to an illegal contract under competition law should be allowed to sue for damages.
Advocate-General Mischo said that where a party to an agreement that is illegal under competition law bears no more than a ‘negligible responsibility’ for the distortion of competition, then they should be able to sue for damages. Under English law a party to an illegal contract is unable to sue
for damages.
