Lithium-Ion Batteries Manufacturers Agree to $50M in Settlements

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Four technology companies have agreed to $50 million worth of settlements to resolve allegations that they conspired to fix prices on lithium-ion batteries.

Defendants NEC, Toshiba, Panasonic and Hitachi Maxell submitted proposed settlements for preliminary court approval last Friday. The settlements would resolve allegations brought by direct purchasers of lithium-ion batteries that the four defendants colluded among themselves and with others to artificially control the market for those batteries.

This settlement is part of a larger antitrust multidistrict litigation that has already secured tens of millions of dollars in settlements from other corporate defendants. Plaintiffs in the litigation are indirect purchasers of lithium-ion batteries, as well as direct purchasers such as former electronics retailer Circuit City.

These purchasers initiated this antitrust action as far back as 2012, accusing the defendants of fixing prices and limiting supply of the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in laptop computers, cordless power tools, and many other consumer electronics.

The alleged anti-competitive behavior took place between 2000 and 2011. The defendant companies allegedly shared sensitive, competitive information, allowing them to cooperate in a way that artificially increased the market price for lithium-ion batteries.

Because of that alleged price-fixing scheme, the purchasers say, they ended up paying more for lithium-ion batteries than they should have.

In 2013, several related claims were consolidated into this lithium-ion batteries multidistrict litigation in a federal court in California. To date, plaintiffs have secured around $69 million in settlement agreements through this lithium-ion battery multidistrict litigation.

Defendant Sony resolved the direct purchasers’ claims with a $19.5 million lithium ion battery settlement last July, the first settlement to arise out of this litigation. The settlement would provide payments to direct purchasers who bought Sony lithium-ion batteries between January 2000 and May 2011.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers granted final approval of the Sony settlement last Monday. Sony is not completely off the hook yet, however. Terms of the settlement require Sony to cooperate with the rest of this lithium-ion antitrust litigation. Administration of the Sony settlement has been on hold while the litigation continued.

Defendant LG Chem settled in December 2016, offering a total of $39 million to resolve the indirect purchasers’ allegations. This settlement would provide payments to persons who bought products packaged with cylindrical lithium-ion batteries – products like laptops, cameras, power tools, or any separately-sold replacement battery for such a product.

Indirect purchasers recently secured settlements with Hitachi Maxell for $3.45 million and with NEC for $2.5 million.

Counsel for the direct purchasers includes attorneys from Barrack Rodos & Bacine, Berman DeValerio, Zelle LLP, Pearson Simon & Warshaw LLP, Grant & Eisenhofer PA, Polsinelli PC, and Saveri & Saveri.

The indirect purchasers are represented by attorneys Steve W. Berman, Jeff D. Friedman and Shana E. Scarlett of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, and Joseph W. Cotchett, Nancy L. Fineman, Demetrius X. Lambrinos, Joyce Chang and Steven N. Williams of Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP.

The Lithium-Ion Batteries Antitrust Multidistrict Litigation is In re: Lithium-Ion Batteries Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 4:13-md-02420, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.