Judgment of the Tribunal approving a joint application by the Class Representative, Professor Barry Rodger, and the Defendants for a Collective Settlement Approval Order (“CSAO”).
The CSAO application was made in the context of opt-out collective proceedings brought under section 47B of the Competition Act 1998 on behalf of UK-domiciled third-party Android app developers. The proceedings concerned allegations that the Defendants had abused a dominant position in relation to the distribution of Android apps through the Google Play Store, including by imposing unfair commission charges and engaging in exclusionary conduct. The Defendants denied liability.
The proposed settlement had a total value of £260 million. In determining whether the settlement was just and reasonable for the purposes of rule 94 of the Competition Appeal Tribunal Rules 2015, the Tribunal considered the advanced stage of the proceedings, the substantial factual and expert evidence that had been obtained by the parties, the significant litigation risks that remained in relation to liability and quantum, and the costs, delay and uncertainty associated with proceeding to trial. The Tribunal also considered submissions made by interested parties in response to the settlement notice and sought further clarification from the parties on aspects of the proposed settlement, including the allocation of the settlement sum between class members and stakeholders, the basis for the proposed stakeholder payments, and the operation and fairness of the proposed distribution methodology.
The Tribunal concluded that, taking all relevant circumstances into account, the settlement represented a just and reasonable resolution of the proceedings and approved the proposed settlement and distribution arrangements. The Tribunal also determined that any application for payment of a residue, and any further payments to stakeholders from such residue, would be considered at a later stage.
