The EU Court of Justice sets aside General Court judgments granting damages for excessively long judicial proceedings (Gascogne / Kendrion / Plasticos Españoles)

On 13 December 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) delivered three judgments on separate appeals brought against judgments of the General Court (“GC”) by Gascogne Sack Deutschland (“Gascogne”), Kendrion and Plasticos Españoles (together with its parent company Armando Álvarez) in relation to actions claiming damages for alleged excessive duration of previous proceedings before the GC concerning the Industrial Bags cartel case (Joined Cases C-138/17P and C-146/17P; Case C-150/17P and Case C-174/17P). In 2006, the claimants brought a series of actions before the GC seeking annulment of the European Commission’s 2005 decision fining a cartel in the industrial bags sector. While both the GC and the ECJ ultimately