Judge Approves Refrigerator Compressor Class Action Settlement

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A federal judge has granted final approval to a roughly $30 million class action lawsuit settlement between refrigeration part manufacturers and direct purchasers who accuse the companies of conspiring to fix and raise the prices of compressors used in appliances such as refrigerators, freezers, and water coolers.

The defendants, which include subsidiaries of Whirlpool S.A. and Panasonic Corp., originally struck a $48 million class action settlement deal in December 2013, but the total was reduced to account for Class Members who opted out of the deal to pursue litigation on their own outside of the multidistrict litigation.

Class Members include all persons or businesses that purchased compressor parts directly from the defendants between February 2005 and the end of 2008. The claim filing deadline was June 9, 2014. More information can be found at www.compressorssettlement.com. [Unfortunately, Top Class Actions was not notified of the settlement website until after the claim filing deadline had passed.]

Similar claims have been brought regarding alleged collusion and antitrust practices by indirect purchasers; i.e., consumers who bought home appliances containing the refrigeration compressors. However, the judge overseeing the refrigerant compressor MDL has yet to allow them to proceed, dismissing their latest amended class action lawsuit in April.

Plaintiffs are represented by class action attorneys David H. Fink and Darryl Bressack of Fink + Associates Law, E. Powell Miller and Marc Newman of the Miller Law Firm PC, Robert N. Kaplan and Gregory K. Arenson of Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP and Michael D. Hausfeld and William P. Butterfield of Hausfeld LLP.

The Refrigerator Compressor Class Action Lawsuits are consolidated in In Re: Refrigerant Compressors Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 2042, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan.