Panasonic, Samsung & Others Settle Price Fixing Suit

Hitachi, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Thomson, and Toshiba got preliminary approval from a San Francisco federal judge for a US$513 million settlement partly resolving a long-running lawsuit claiming they fixed the prices of cathode ray tubes, reported Bloomberg. 

The sprawling antitrust suit was filed in 2007 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. It involves proposed class claims on behalf of direct purchasers like manufacturers and wholesalers, and on behalf of downstream “indirect purchasers” like retailers and consumers.

Because the US Supreme Court prohibited federal antitrust damages for indirect purchasers in Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois, the retailer and consumer classes have mainly pursued claims under the antitrust laws of the 22 so-called “repealer” states, including the District of Columbia, that don’t follow the Illinois Brick rule. Some plaintiffs from non-repealer states also allege violations of consumer protection-type laws.

The electronics makers in 2015 reached a US$542 million settlement with a proposed nationwide class of indirect purchasers from repealer states, as well as 22 parallel statewide classes. Judge Jon S. Tigar tentatively approved the deal and certified the classes for settlement purposes.

But while objections to that agreement were before the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Tigar changed his mind.

He expressed concerns about claims releases by potential class members from the non-repealer states, and a few repealer states, that weren’t being compensated.

That was problematic on its face, the judge said, and it also called into question the adequacy of representation by lawyers who were getting US$159 million out of the deal. The Ninth Circuit returned the case to Tigar’s courtroom.

Following changes to the structure of the agreement—including a US$29 million reduction in attorneys’ fees, the judge gave the deal his preliminary blessing Wednesday, March 11.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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