Lithium Ion Batteries Indirect Purchaser Class Action Settlement

A $19.5 million settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit involving an alleged conspiracy to fix, raise, maintain or stabilize the prices of lithium ion battery cells found in a wide variety of consumer products, including (but are not limited to) laptops, notebooks, netbooks or tablets; mobile phones; smartphones; cameras; camcorders; digital video cameras; digital audio players; and power tools..

If you purchased a lithium ion battery or electronic devices that contain a lithium ion battery since 2000, you may be entitled to compensation from the antitrust class action settlement if it is approved.

According to the lithium ion battery class action lawsuit, the defendants and co-conspirators conspired to raise and fix the prices of lithium ion batteries for more than a decade, resulting in indirect purchasers of the lithium ion batteries being overcharged for the batteries and products containing the batteries.

“No later than 2000, Defendants were engaging in collusive discussions – including face-to-face meetings and telephone conversations – for the purpose of providing confidential, highly-sensitive information to each other concerning their manufacture and sale of Lithium Ion Batteries,” the antitrust class action lawsuit states.

“By engaging in these collusive meetings, and systematically sharing highly-sensitive, competitive information, Defendants sought to, and did, achieve their joint goal of elevating Lithium Ion Battery prices.”

Sony Corporation, Sony Energy Devices Corporation and Sony Electronics Inc. have agreed to settle the lithium ion battery antitrust class action lawsuit. These defendants are currently the only ones to agree to a settlement. The litigation against the non-settling defendants is ongoing.

The non-settling defendants include: LG Chem Ltd., LG Chem America Inc., Samsung SDI Co. Ltd., Samsung SDI America Inc., Panasonic Corporation, Panasonic Corporation of North America, Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., Sanyo North America Corporation, Hitachi Maxell Ltd., Maxell Corporation of America, NEC Corporation, NEC Tokin Corporation and Toshiba Corporation.

UPDATE: On Dec. 7, 2016, LG Chem Ltd. agreed to pay $39 million to settle allegations that it conspired to fix the prices of lithium-ion batteries.

UPDATE 2: On March 17, 2017, NEC, Toshiba, Panasonic and Hitachi Maxell agreed to $50 million worth of settlements to resolve allegations that they conspired to fix prices on lithium-ion batteries.

Who’s Eligible

Class Members of the lithium ion battery settlement include all persons and entities that indirectly purchased a lithium ion battery or lithium ion products in the United States from one or more of the defendants between Jan. 1, 2000 and May 31, 2011.

According to the lithium ion battery class action settlement, the term “Lithium Ion Battery” or “Li-Ion Battery” means Lithium Ion Battery Cell or Lithium Ion Battery Pack (see below for definitions).

Lithium Ion Battery Cell (or “Li-Ion Cell”): Cylindrical, prismatic or polymer cell used for the storage of power that is rechargeable and uses lithium ion technology.

Lithium Ion Battery Pack: Lithium Ion Battery Cells that have been assembled into a pack (regardless of the number of Lithium Ion Cells contained in the pack).

Lithium Ion Battery Products (or “Li-Ion Products”): Products that are manufactured, marketed and/or sold by any of the defendants and which contain one or more Lithium Ion Battery Cells manufactured by the defendants and/or their co-conspirators. Lithium Ion Battery Products include (but are not limited to) laptop, notebook, netbook or tablet computers; mobile phones; smartphones; cameras; camcorders; digital video cameras; digital audio players; and power tools.

Potential Award

There is currently no money available to Class Members, and it is not yet known how much each claimant will be eligible to receive. We will update this post when more information becomes available. Click the “Follow Article” button at the top of the page to receive notifications of updates via email.

Proof of Purchase

N/A. There is currently no Claim Form available as the Claims Period is not yet open. For the latest updates on the lithium ion battery settlement, you may sign up for updates from the Settlement Administrator here.

Register for Updates

REGISTER FOR UPDATES »

Claim Form Deadline

N/A. There is currently no Claim Form available. You can use the link above to register for updates to this class action settlement from the official Settlement Administrator, or you can keep checking www.TopClassActions.com for the latest updates.

Class Members who wish to opt out of or object to the lithium ion battery settlement must do so no later than Sept. 22, 2016.

Case Name

In re: Lithium Ion Batteries Antitrust Litigation – All Indirect Purchaser Actions, MDL No. 2420, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

Final Hearing

11/8/2016

Settlement Website

www.BatteriesConsumerLitigation.com

Claims Administrator

Lithium Batteries Indirect Sony Settlement
P.O. Box 173006
Milwaukee, WI 53217
1-800-952-0581

Class Counsel

Steven N. Williams
COTCHETT PITRE & MCCARTHY LLP

Jeff Friedman
HAGENS BERMAN SOBOL SHAPIRO LLP

Brendan P. Glackin
LIEFF CABRASER HEIMANN & BERNSTEIN LLP

Defense Counsel

Counsel for the Sony Defendants:
COOLEY LLP