In re Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation
This matter involves an alleged conspiracy among some of the automotive industry’s largest manufacturers and suppliers of automotive parts. Plaintiffs counsel represents consumers who purchased or leased a new vehicle that included or leased a new vehicle that included one or more of the parts at issue (the “End Payor Class”). Plaintiffs allege that defendants agreed, during meetings and conversations to sell certain automotive parts at noncompetitive prices to automobile manufacturers in the United States and elsewhere.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the Japanese Fair Trade Commission, among other international law enforcement bodies, have been investigating these conspiracies in the market for automotive parts since at least February 2011. The FBI has participated in raids and executed search warrants, in some of the defendants’ offices.
These consolidated class-action cases are part of a multidistrict litigation against numerous automotive parts suppliers alleging violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, state antitrust statutes, and consumer protection statues arising from a conspiracy of price fixing. The multiple classes include indirect purchasers (auto dealers), and direct purchasers.