US class action specialist Cohen Milstein Hausfeld & Toll is gearing up for major class actions against British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic for their roles in a price-fixing cartel.
Washington DC partner Michael Hausfeld is spearheading the Cohen Milstein team, which hopes to file suits in the US and the UK in the next 60 days.
The news follows BA being landed with fines worth around £270m after admitting to holding illegal talks with rival group Virgin in a bid to fix the prices of fuel surcharges.
The US Department of Justice yesterday (1 August) fined BA $300m (£148m) after the shamed airline had already been slapped with a £121.5m penalty by the UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
Slaughter and May advised regular corporate client BA, with competition partner William Sibree leading the team.
Herbert Smith acted for longstanding client Virgin, which was granted full immunity by the OFT for reporting the collusion. Competition head Jonathan Scott and competition partner James Quinney played key roles.
Earlier this year Cohen Milstein set up a new office in London in a bid to launch a European class action practice.
