On 27 October 2022 the Competition Appeal Tribunal handed down a ruling following the three 'permission to appeal' applications submitted after it granted the RHA the first ever 'opt-in' collective proceeding order (CPO). While it dismissed the majority of points raised by UKTC and DAF, it has granted permission to appeal on the question of whether there is a conflict of interest between purchasers of new and used trucks such that they cannot both be included in the same collective proceedings. Briefly, the truck manufacturers say that an operator that buys new trucks will want to argue it could not pass on the overcharge when it sold the vehicle on or part-exchanged the vehicle. Conversely, purchasers of used trucks will want to argue that the entire overcharge was passed on to them. The truck manufacturers say this represents a conflict within the group. The RHA's position is that the extent of overcharge that is apportioned to each operator is a matter for determination by an expert who will have access to data to provide the most accurate estimation of what actually happened and what the overcharge looks like for each truck type/each operator. This is the position the tribunal accepted at the CPO hearing, and it has confirmed that this remains the case. Steven Meyerhoff, a director of Backhouse Jones, said he remains confident the judgment is correct but understands the tribunal's approach, given this is a new regime and a novel issue not yet tested by the appeal courts under the regime. Given the potential impact on the claimants, the tribunal elected to halt proceedings pending the appeal.
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