On Thursday, August 8, a federal judge in Minneapolis dismissed antitrust lawsuits accusing several US pork companies of conspiring to limit supply in order to inflate prices and their own profits. Chief Judge John Tunheim said the plaintiffs failed to show “parallel conduct” among the companies, whose combined US market share exceeds 80%. It was […]
Plaintiffs suing the Big Three tuna companies—Bumble Bee Foods, StarKist, and Chicken of the Sea—over alleged price fixing among the competitors have been granted class certification. The judge’s decision is good news for the plaintiffs, as such certification generally means lower legal costs and an increase in the likelihood of seeing a financial reward. The […]
NHK Spring, a Japanese manufacturer of suspension assemblies used in hard disk drives, has agreed to plead guilty for its role in a global conspiracy to fix prices, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday, July 30. According to a one-count felony charge filed today in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan […]
Victims of cartels may find it easier to seek damages from companies guilty of price fixing after European Union antitrust regulators released on Monday guidelines to help courts calculate the economic harm of anti-competitive practices. The European Commission views such claims as a tool to deter and punish cartels on top of regulatory fines as […]
Gennex pleaded guilty to conspiring to fix prices for customized promotional products sold online to customers in the United States. Gennex Media’s president, Akil Kurji, was also sentenced Thursday, June 27, for his role in the conspiracy. According to the felony charges filed on November 1, 2018, and the plea agreement filed Thursday in the […]
A price-fixing lawsuit filed by a Wichita aviation company and other natural gas customers that climbed to the US Supreme Court resulted in recovery by the state of Kansas of more than US$950,000 from companies that manipulated prices in the early 2000s, officials said Tuesday, June 25. State Attorney General Derek Schmidt contributed to the […]
Two executives were sentenced in US District Court in Miami for their role in a conspiracy to fix prices of international freight forwarding services, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday, June 25. Roberto Dip and Jason Handal were charged with fixing prices in June 2018, and pleaded guilty in November 2018. A magistrate judge […]
The US Dept. of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion to intervene and stay discovery of evidence in an antitrust lawsuit involving major poultry processors. A temporary stay was issued “…to all defendant employee and former employee depositions…” until the US District Court Judge Thomas Durkin rules on the motion at a hearing scheduled for June […]
The Federal Court has ordered PT Garuda Indonesia Ltd (Garuda) to pay penalties of $19 million for colluding on fees and surcharges for air freight services. The penalties follow the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) court action against a global air cargo cartel, which has so far resulted in penalties of US$132.5 million against […]
North Atlantic fisheries accused of conspiring to fix the price of farm-raised salmon by rigging its cash price in Oslo will go to Miami federal court to defend themselves, reported Bloomberg Law. Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga of the Southern District of Florida consolidated two proposed class actions May 10. Altonaga said she would also oversee […]