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Robert Bosch Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Robert Bosch, automobile brake manufacturer, will pay consumers $2.24 million in a class action settlement.
- Why: The company will pay consumers $2.24 million to close out a class action lawsuit that accused manufacturers of price-fixing, which led to inflated vehicle prices.
- Where: Michigan federal court approved the settlement on Aug. 26.
Consumers have been granted a $2.24 million dollar settlement with brake manufacturers Robert Bosch GmbH and Robert Bosch LLC to close out a class action lawsuit that accuses the manufacturers of price-fixing, which led to inflated vehicle prices.
The manufacturers called on Michigan federal court to approve the settlement, which would see $2.11 million go to electronic braking system class members and $128,000 go to hydraulic system class members – all of whom accuse the companies of inflating prices, rigging bids, and allocating markets.
On Aug. 26, the class members filed a complaint calling on the court to tie their case to the nearly decade-old auto parts price-fixing MDL, which has seen millions of dollars paid out to consumers by numerous companies involved in the alleged scheme.
The MDL came together after a 2010 U.S. Department of Justice investigation found that car parts manufacturers had come together to rig prices and inflate the market.
Robert Bosch Joins Long List of Suppliers Forced to Pay Out Large Settlements in Automotive Parts Price Fixing Scheme
In 2015, Japanese suppliers Fujikura Ltd. and T.Rad Co. Ltd. agreed to pay more than $14.5 million to end-payors to resolve allegations of their part in the conspiracy. T.Rad was accused of conspiring to fix the prices of radiators and ATF warmers, while Fujikura was accused of conspiring to fix the price of automotive wire harness systems.
Recently, the car buyers and lessees also struck a $760,000 settlement with ZF TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., ZF Friedrichshafen AG and Lucas Automotive GmbH over hydraulic brake parts.
Law firms Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP, Robins Kaplan LLP and Susman Godfrey LLP told Law360 they had secured more than $1.2 billion in settlements for the end-payors in the MDL, which they said was “a sum that, in the aggregate, is the largest antitrust indirect purchaser settlement in history.”
“Bosch’s payment provides for significant compensation to the proposed settlement classes that will be available years earlier than would be the case if litigation against Bosch continued through trial and appeal,” the lawyers said in a statement.
The settlements do not yet include an allocation for counsel, but indicate one-third of the fund will be set aside for the firms.
Did you know that auto parts manufacturers were still reaching settlements more than 10-years after the DOJ investigation into their scheme? Let us know in the comments section!
The consumers are represented by Adam J. Zapala, Elizabeth T. Castillo and Reid W. Gaa of Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP; William V. Reiss of Robins Kaplan LLP; Marc M. Seltzer, Steven G. Sklaver, Terrell W. Oxford and Chanler Langham of Susman Godfrey LLP; and E. Powell Miller and Devon P. Allard of The Miller Law Firm PC.
The Auto Parts Price-Fixing Class Action Lawsuit 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.
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