Panasonic Settles Auto Parts Price-Fixing Class Action Lawsuits

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On March 19, Panasonic Corp. and the plaintiffs of three auto parts price-fixing class action lawsuits informed the Michigan federal court that the company had agreed to a $17.1 million class action settlement. This proposed Panasonic class action settlement will resolve claims that the company was part of a conspiracy to fix the prices of steering angle sensors, switches, and automotive high intensity discharge ballasts.

According to the Panasonic auto parts price-fixing class action lawsuits, the indirect car buyers claim they bought vehicles in the United States that featured auto parts manufactured or sold by Panasonic. The plaintiffs allege Panasonic and other auto part manufacturers, including Tokai Rika, Co. Ltd., DENSO Corp. and Ichikoh Industries Ltd., agreed to set and sell their parts to car manufacturers at noncompetitive prices.

The three auto parts price fixing class action lawsuits allege:

“Plaintiffs allege that, in furtherance of the alleged conspiracies, defendants agreed, during meetings and conversations, to allocate the supply of Switches, Steering Angle Sensors, and HID Ballasts on a model-by-model basis, and then sold those products at noncompetitive prices to automobile manufacturers in the United States and elsewhere.”

However, Panasonic and the plaintiffs agreed to begin settlement talks a couple months ago, and in February forged an auto parts price-fixing class action settlement for these three separate complaints. The terms of the Panasonic Settlement require the Class of switches, steering angle sensors, and HID ballasts buyers receive about $5.3 million, $6.3 million, and $5.5 million respectively from Panasonic.

Additionally, as part of the auto parts price-fixing class action settlement, Panasonic also agrees to provide the plaintiffs of these three different complaints with documents, depositions, witness interviewers and any other information that may be useful to the plaintiffs in their cases against the remaining defending auto part makers.

The Panasonic auto parts price-fixing class action settlement states: “The ability to obtain such information without protracted and expensive discovery is quite valuable to [the end-payor plaintiffs]. Panasonic’s cooperation will greatly enhance plaintiffs’ ability to prosecute their claims against non-settling defendants.”

These three Panasonic auto parts price-fixing class action lawsuits are part of a larger auto part price-fixing multidistrict litigation (MDL) that has been pursued at the expense of the U.S. Department of Justice; this ongoing auto parts industry investigation has already resulted in $2 million in fines from the defending companies.

Back in 2013, during this auto parts price-fixing MDL, Panasonic agreed to pay $45.8 million to the Department of Justice in order to resolve criminal charges regarding auto parts bid rigging.

According to the plaintiffs’ legal representatives, this Panasonic class action settlement will help protect many American consumers from future price-fixing conspiracies.

The plaintiffs are represented by Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP, Robins Kaplan LLP,Susman Godfrey LLP and The Miller Law Firm PC.

The Panasonic Auto Parts Price-Fixing Class Action Lawsuits are In re: Steering Angle Sensors, Case No. 2:13-cv-01603, In re: Switches, Case No. 2:13-cv-01303 and In re: HID Ballasts, Case No. 2:13-cv-01703, all in the in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The Auto Parts Price-Fixing MDL is In re: Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 2:12-md-02311, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.