Hitachi, Others Face New Auto Parts Price-Fixing Class Action Lawsuits

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Panasonic Corp., Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd., Mitsuba Corp. and other automotive parts makers have been hit with separate class action lawsuits accusing them of engaging in a conspiracy to fix prices for a number of auto parts.

The class action lawsuits were filed in Michigan federal court nearly a month after auto parts manufacturer Nippon Seiki Co. Ltd. announced a $4.56 million class action settlement in the massive multidistrict litigation (MDL) In re: Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation. Nippon Seiki is the first of the defendants to settle its portion of the auto parts price-fixing MDL.

The class action lawsuits seek to represent all automobile dealers who purchased vehicles that included one or more air flow meters that were manufactured or sold by the defendants or any of their subsidiaries or alleged co-conspirators. Air flow meters involve sensors that measure the volume of air flowing into vehicle engines.

The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently conducting a criminal investigation into alleged illegal price-fixing and bid rigging in the automotive parts industry.

“As part of its criminal investigation, the DOJ is seeking information about unlawful anticompetitive conduct in the market for a number of different but related automotive parts, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has participated in raids, pursuant to search warrants, carried out in the offices of a number of major competitors in the automotive parts industry,” the class action lawsuits say. “The automotive parts investigation is the largest criminal investigation the Antitrust Division has ever pursued, both in terms of its scope and the potential volume of commerce affected by the alleged illegal conduct. The ongoing cartel investigation of price-fixing and bid-rigging in the automotive parts industry has yielded $1.8 billion in criminal fines, already surpassing the total amount in criminal fines obtained by the DOJ’s Antitrust Division for all of last fiscal year.”

The auto parts price-fixing class action lawsuit accuses the defendants and their co-conspirators of participating in a “conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition in the automotive parts industry by agreeing to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize, and maintain the prices of, air flow meters sold to automobile manufacturers and others in the United States.”

The plaintiffs allege that this alleged conspiracy violated the Sherman Antitrust Act as well as state antitrust, unfair competition and consumer protection laws. As a result of the alleged auto parts price-fixing conspiracy, the plaintiffs claim they paid inflated prices for air flow meters.

More than 30 car dealerships have joined together to file these auto parts price-fixing class action lawsuits. They are seeking damages and injunctive relief for the alleged conspiracies to fix prices for air flow meters, electronic throttle bodies, high-intensity discharge ballasts, power window motors, steering angle sensors, automatic transmission fluid warmers and electronic-powered steering assemblies.

The plaintiffs are represented by Mantese Honigman Rossman and Williamson PC, Barrett Law Group PA, Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca LLP, Larson King LLP, Duncan Firm PA, Thrash Law Firm PA, Lovelace & Associates PA, Charles Barrett PC and G. Johnson Law PLLC.

The Auto Parts Price-Fixing Class Action Lawsuits are Martens Cars of Washington Inc., et al. v. Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd., et al., Case No. 2:14-cv-10588; Martens Cars of Washington Inc., et al. v. T. Rad Co. Ltd., Case No. 2:14-cv-10593; Martens Cars of Washington Inc., et al. v. Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd., et al., Case No. 2:14-cv-10594; Martens Cars of Washington Inc., et al. v. JTEKT Corp., et al., Case No. 2:14-cv-10596; Martens Cars of Washington Inc., et al. v. Panasonic Corp., et al, case number 2:14-cv-10597; Martens Cars of Washington Inc., et al. v. Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd., et al., Case No. 2:14-cv-10598; Martens Cars of Washington Inc., et al. v. Mitsuba Corp., et al., Case No. 2:14-cv-10599; and Martens Cars of Washington Inc., et al. v. Panasonic Corp., et al., Case No. 2:14-cv-10600, all in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division.