Nicola Boyle

Experience

Antitrust/Competition

Nicola has acted on a number of significant follow-on cartel damages claims on behalf of claimants from across Europe and a number of which have helped develop the law in this area. Most notably:

• Claims against Mastercard in relation to interchange fees on both cross‐border and domestic transactions in 18 European countries on behalf of over 1000 operating entities in 8 corporate groups.  Nicola led the Hausfeld legal team in proceedings which spanned claims in both the High Court and Competition Tribunal including a preliminary issue trial and interlocutory appeals to the Court of Appeal on issues of applicable law and relation back.
• Representing vertical search engine Foundem in its claim against Google for abuse of dominance in relation to comparison shopping services.
• Acting for a UK retailer in claims in the High Court against manufacturers of Copper Tubes and Copper Fittings
• Acting for a cross-European group of candle manufacturers and other wax purchasers in follow-on claims against paraffin wax producers
• Acting for a group of poultry producers in claims brought in the Competition Appeal Tribunal relating to price-fixing of feed phosphates and methionine
• Assisting clients in settlement dialogues in portfolio cartel claims arising from decisions of the European Commission and number of domestic competition authorities.

In addition, she led the Hausfeld team which:

• Filed a representative collective action with the CAT on behalf of the Consumers’ Association (known as Which?) against Qualcomm on behalf of a class of around 29 million UK consumers alleging that Qualcomm abuses its dominance in the markets for smartphone chipsets and standard essential patents, the result of which is that Qualcomm is able to overcharge smartphone manufacturers like Apple and Samsung for its technology. Damages are estimated to be over £480 million.
• Representing Foundem in an abuse of dominance claim against Google linked to the EC's infringement finding in relation to Google Shopping.
• Acting on behalf of individual and business clients in relation to the alleged use by Mercedes of so-called ‘defeat devices’ for the purposes of cheating emissions testing. The team have issued claims on behalf of thousands of clients affected by Mercedes’ alleged conduct and are part of the Steering Committee of firms running the litigation.