Court of Appeal confirms presumption of innocence is absolute and strikes out economic tort claims; English High Court strikes out entirety of claim brought on behalf of over 60,000 Chinese claimants.

Background -

The appeals and the strike out application relate to claims brought by over 65,000 claimants against British Airways plc (BA) for losses arising out of an alleged cartel said to have operated on a worldwide basis between 1999 and 2007 (the Air Cargo litigation). The matters follow a 2010 European Commission decision (presently under appeal before the EU courts) which found that 11 airlines had infringed Article 101 the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (and certain equivalent treaty provisions covering the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland) by colluding on certain elements of the price of air cargo services. The 2010 decision imposed a fine of €799 million. BA in turn brought contribution claims against 23 airlines involved in the alleged cartel.