On November 11th, 2024, Ius Omnibus filed an opt-out representative action (popular action) against Bimbo Donuts Portugal, Lda, at the Portuguese Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court (case number 19/24.6YQSTR).
This popular action aims to compensate all consumers who live in Portugal and purchased, between October 28th 2004 and May 9th 2017, products marketed by Bimbo Donuts, including pre-packaged bread from the brands Panrico, Bimbo, Oroweat and Thins, bread substitutes from brands Panrico, Bimbo, Oroweat and Thins, and cakes from brands Donuts, Donettes, Bollycao e Manhãzitos sold by food retailers, due to Bimbo Donuts’s anticompetitive practices in collusion with several large food retailers, which were identified and sanctioned by Portuguese Competition Authority.
It is a popular action in the defense of individual homogenous interests. It is an action in defense of competition and a damages action based on damage caused to consumers by Bimbo Donuts’s anticompetitive practices and several large Portuguese food retailers, which infringed article 101 TFEU and article 9 of the Portuguese Competition Act.
The popular action is filed under Articles 52(3) and 60(3) of the Constitution, the Popular Action Act (Law no. 83/95) and Articles 31 and 546(2) of the Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure, Articles 3 and 19 of the Private Enforcement Act (Law no. 23/2018) and Articles 5 ande of Representative Actions Law (Decree-Law no 114-A/2023).
As declared in the Portuguese Competition Authority decision, Bimbo Donuts in collusion with some of the main companies of the food distribution sector (large retailers), the retail prices of a wide range of their products were fixed and/or horizontally aligned in the food retail market throughout the entire national territory. The practice occurred, at least between October 28th 2004 and May 9th 2017.
All consumers who live in Portugal and purchased, between October 28th 2004 and May 9th 2017, products marketed by Bimbo Donuts, including pre-packaged bread from the brands Panrico, Bimbo, Oroweat and Thins, bread substitutes from brands Panrico, Bimbo, Oroweat and Thins, and cakes from brands Donuts, Donettes, Bollycao e Manhãzitos, sold by food retail market (in case food retailers), are represented in this action.
Consumers needn’t do anything in order to be represented and to be entitled to compensation if the action is successful (just need to ask for compensation at that moment).
Any consumer who wishes not to be represented in this action may exercise the right to opt-out, by communicating that intention to the court. Consumers may also decide to intervene in the case in support of Ius Omnibus.
Ius Omnibus asks to Court to:
a) Declare the infrigement: to be declared that, since October 28th 2004 and May 9th 2017, Bimbo Donuts infringed, in a single and continuous practice, Article 101 TFEU (including its previous numbering) and (successively) Article 4(1) of Law no. 18/2003 of June 11, and Article 9(1) of Law no. 19/2012 of May 8, through the practice of an agreement – or, alternatively, a concerted practice – with the participating distribution companies, setting sales prices and other transaction conditions, both directly and indirectly, applicable to the sale of the range of Bimbo Donuts products by those distribution companies, throughout the national territory;
b) Declare that the infringement caused damage: to be declared that this Bimbo Donuts’s practice had effects throughout the national territory and caused harm to the diffuse and/or collective interests of consumer protection of goods and services and competition, as well as to the homogeneous individual interests of the represented consumers;
c) Condemn to pay compensation to consumers: based on civil liability, Bimbo Donuts should be condemned to fully compensate all consumers represented in this action for the damages suffered / overprice paid as a result of the anticompetitive practices in question, in a global amount to be determined.
The mass consumer compensation mechanism used here, provided for in the Portuguese rules of class action and of collective actions, has never been tested in practice until the very last step. However, according to the law, the following will happen if the court finds in favour of Ius Omnibus:
1. the Court will set the overall amount of damages to be paid by Bimbo Donuts to the represented consumers, to be deposited on a compensation fund;
2. the Court will appoint an entity responsible for managing the compensation fund, including the receipt, management and payment of compensation to injured consumers;
3. the Court will set a deadline for represented consumers to claim their share of the compensation and this information will be publicized in various ways;
4. the represented consumers will have to contact the entity that manages the compensation fund, as well as submit the court-decided evidence and the respective payment instructions, in order to receive their share of the compensation;
5. at the end of the legally set deadline, if part of the global compensation has not been distributed to consumers, the remaining amount should be allocated in accordance with the provisions of the law (Article 16(8) of the LAC or, subsidiarily, Article 19(8) of the LPE and Article 22(5) of the LAP).
Consumers do not currently have to contact the Court or Ius Omnibus at this stage, nonetheless it may be in their interest to do so.
All consumers who live in Portugal and purchased, between October 28th 2004 and May 9th 2017, products marketed by Bimbo Donuts, including pre-packaged bread from the brands Panrico, Bimbo, Oroweat and Thins, bread substitutes from brands Panrico, Bimbo, Oroweat and Thins, and cakes from brands Donuts, Donettes, Bollycao e Manhãzitos, sold in food retail market, are automatically represented in this popular action.
If you do not wish to be represented, you must exercise your right to opt-out.
If you wish to be represented, you do not need to do anything further for now to be entitled to compensation if Ius Omnibus is successful in this action.
At the end of the case, if successful, consumers will have to contact the entity appointed by the Court to request compensation.
If consumers wish to intervene in the action in support of Ius Omnibus they may do so, until March 10 th 2025.
Consumers represented in this action are invited to contact Ius Omnibus so that their data be registered and they be informed by Ius of all developments in this case, ensuring they do not miss the deadline to ask for compensation, when the time comes. Consumers can do so by submitting the form available on this page.
Preparing an action of this nature in an adequate way, which allows for its success, is extremely costly, requiring the hiring of specialized lawyers and consultants. The action’s success is dependent on suitably handling very broad and technical facts and an extremely complex area of legal-economic knowledge, as well as reacting effectively to the vast financial and human resources which will be deployed by the other sides.
However, consumers will never be asked to pay anything, to take on any cost or to give up any part of the compensation they are entitled to. This litigation is financed by a specialized entity in funding legal actions, the Augusta group. The funding agreement is submitted to the Court for scrutiny, with the funder lacking the possibility to interfere or determine the case management by Ius. The funder assumes full responsibility for all risks and costs. In the event of Ius losing the case, the funder is not entitled to any compensation. If Ius prevails, the funder will receive an amount determined by the Court as reasonable and equitable.
The funder will only receive this sum if a portion of the overall compensation paid by Bimbo Donuts remains after the deadline for consumers to request individual compensation has passed. The remaining amount is then allocated in accordance with the legal provisions.