On 21 May 2015, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed that cartel victims may jointly sue cartelists for damages in an EU Member State where only one of the cartelists is domiciled. This rule applies even if the applicant withdraws his action against the domiciled co-defendant after proceedings were instituted. By taking this position, the ECJ sends a clear signal endorsing the European Commission’s efforts to introduce an effective compensation mechanism for cartel injury in Europe.

FACTS -

In May 2006, the Commission fined nine companies for participation in the hydrogen peroxide and sodium perborate cartel. Following the decision, civil proceedings were initiated in the Dortmund Regional Court/Germany (the “German Court”) by Cartel Damages Claims (CDC), a Brussels-based litigation vehicle, which sued the cartelists seeking compensation for damages suffered due to the hydrogen peroxide and perborate cartel.