In the Media
Suzanne Labi Discusses Current State of UK Class Actions with the Law Society Gazette
In the Media
March 4, 2026
Winston & Strawn partner Suzanne Labi was quoted in an article featured in the latest edition of the Law Society Gazette, highlighting the role of the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal and class actions as a mechanism for enforcing consumer rights.
Suzanne explained that access to litigation funding is a critical element in the collective claims equation.
“New claims filed at the CAT have fallen sharply from their 2023 peak – a widely recognized consequence of weaker funder appetite following the Supreme Court’s PACCAR decision on the enforceability of certain funding models,” she said. “However, confidence in the market is recovering. The UK government is set to reverse that judgment through legislation and introduce light-touch regulation of the funding industry. Should that reversal occur as anticipated, we would expect 2026 to mark a turning point for consumer rights litigation and collective redress in this jurisdiction.”
Suzanne also told the Law Society Gazette that, since Brexit, UK claimants bringing follow-on damages claims are no longer able to rely on infringement findings by the European Commission or EU Member State competition authorities as automatic proof of harm. She explained that this presents implications for claimants pursuing competition claims against U.S. technology companies.
“The CMA has increasingly diverged from the activist enforcement stance adopted by EU authorities towards ‘big tech’. The CMA has not conducted equivalent investigations to the EU authorities in several cases,” she said. “As a result, competition claims against these companies in the UK typically proceed on a standalone basis (since there is no relevant competition authority decision to ‘follow-on’ from), requiring claimants to discharge a significantly higher evidentiary burden to establish loss.”
