Final Approval Granted in Transpacific Airline Antitrust Settlement

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Last week, final approval of a settlement agreement ending the multidistrict litigation against eight out of 13 airlines accused of conspiring to fix the prices of airline tickets for travel between the United States and Asia/Oceania was granted by a California federal judge.

U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer indicated he would issue an order granting a $39.5 million settlement agreement on Friday of last week. This order would overrule objections made by a Class Member that the proposed Class of both direct and indirect purchasers could not be certified because they have different claims and those claims could not be represented by the same class counsel.

“First, and fatal to class certification as discussed by Section III below, the settlements create unitary settlement classes with untenable intra class conflicts,” said the objection. “All class members are represented by the same counsel and, regardless of the strength of the claims they are releasing, will receive the same prorata distribution from the settlement funds. When, as here, subgroups within a class have competing interests,” it continued.

Judge Breyer did say he would consider a last minute bid by the plaintiffs for an extra million in attorneys fees. Judge Breyer awarded class counsel a flat $9 million in the settlement, less than the $13 million they sought but more than the 25 percent benchmark.

“Class Counsel have prosecuted this case on a purely contingent basis,” pointed out the motion for the settlement. “The settlements have been achieved without the support of parallel criminal government investigations or guilty pleas for the vast majority of Plaintiffs’ claims, and in the face of an immensely hard fought defense by some of the most sophisticated and respected defense firms in the country,” it continued, arguing “[t]he fees Class Counsel seek are eminently fair in light of the extraordinary investment of time and money they have made and the substantial risks that the litigation presented.”

The settling defendants include: Air France, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Malaysian Airlines, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, and Vietnam Airlines. However, there are still five non-settling airlines, who are also defendants in this class action lawsuit: Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, China Airlines, EVA Airways and Philippines Airlines.

Instructions on how to file a claim for the Transpacific Airline class action settlement are available here.

The Class is represented by Joseph W. Cotchett, Steven N. Williams and Adam J. Zapala ofCotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP and by Michael D. Hausfeld, Seth R. Gassman, Michael Lehmann and Christopher Lebsock of Hausfeld LLP.

The objecting Class Member is represented by Theodore H. Frank and Anna St. John of the Center for Class Action Fairness and by Aaron Dawson of Alecto Law.

The Transpacific Airline Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit is In Re: Transpacific Passenger Air Transportation Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 07-CV-5634-CRB, MDL. 1913, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Jan. 10, 2018, Philippine Airlines Inc., Air New Zealand Ltd. and China Airlines Ltd. agreed to pay a total of $29.4 million to settle a class action lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to fix the prices of airline tickets for travel between the United States and Asia/Oceania.

UPDATE 2: On Feb. 13, 2019, a $58 million settlement was reached to resolve class action allegations that All Nippon Airways engaged in a price-fixing scheme on transpacific flights.