A surprise court ruling has revived the possibility of a £14bn lawsuit against credit card firm Mastercard. The Court of Appeal in London has ruled the Competition Appeal Tribunal must reconsider the class action against the firm which it threw out two years ago. The claim alleges 46 million people paid higher prices in shops than they should have due to high card fees. Mastercard said it continued to "disagree fundamentally with the basis of the claim". "This decision is not a final ruling and the proposed claim is not approved to move forward; rather, the court has simply said a rehearing on certain issues should happen," it added. The financial services firm said it was seeking permission to appeal against the ruling to the Supreme Court. Class action

Former financial ombudsman Walter Merricks - who is behind the claim - is trying to bring the class action on behalf of all individuals over 16 who were resident in the UK for at least three months between 1992 and 2008 and who bought an item or service from a UK business which accepted Mastercard. He alleges that fees which Mastercard charged businesses for accepting payments from consumers, known as interchange fees, led to UK consumers paying higher prices on purchases from businesses that accepted Mastercard.

Source: