LG Settles CRT Price-Fixing Class Action Lawsuit

Yet another display maker has decided to settle with plaintiffs rather than continue a CRT price-fixing class action lawsuit alleging that numerous companies colluded to keep prices of monitors and TVs artificially high. The LG class action settlement was approved by a federal judge on Tuesday.

LG Electronics, formerly known as Lucky Goldstar, follows in the footsteps of Samsung and others that first faced legal action regarding activities that ended before 2003. According to documentation filed in the consolidated class action lawsuits, the manufacturers were engaged in “one of the most well-documented global price-fixing conspiracies in history. It has been the subject of numerous enforcement proceedings by domestic and foreign competition authorities.”

However, the settlement only covers so-called “direct-action” plaintiffs, or those companies that bought the displays from the LG Electronics, like retailers who had filed a class action lawsuit. The Korean manufacturer had already settled with electronics makers like Sharp and Dell. The terms of the agreement were not stipulated in the motion to dismiss the class action lawsuit, but other settlements have ranged into the tens of millions of dollars.

In fact, the largest recent settlement came from Samsung, which agreed to pay $33 million to resolve claims that the South Korean electronics giant had worked with others between 1995 and 2007 to artificially raise prices, higher than Philips and Toshiba. In large part, the settlements, which do not involve any admission of wrongdoing, come as plaintiffs sought class certification based on violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

The judge handling the multidistrict litigation had agreed with the plaintiffs that investigations around the world, including by the U.S. Department of Justice, in Europe and in Japan and South Korea. One DOJ report noted that the conspiracy “harmed countless Americans” because of the increased costs.

The LG Electronics class action lawsuit settlement comes on the heels of other class action lawsuits regarding so-called inelastic markets. They include other computer parts as well as automotive components. Plaintiffs argue in each class action lawsuit that because a few companies dominated various markets, it was easy to set prices.

For more information regarding any potential settlements with indirect purchasers from LG Electronics, Chunghwa Picture Tubes and other manufacturers, visit the CRT Antitrust Litigation Class Action Settlement to submit a claim form or to add it to your favorites.

The direct action plaintiffs are represented by Philip J. Iovieno, Anne M. Nardacci, William A. Isaacson and Stuart Singer of Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP.

The CRT Price-Fixing Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 3:07-cv-05944, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, Toshiba, and Hitachi have agreed to pay a total of $563 million to indirect purchasers under the terms of a proposed class action settlement, according to court documents filed May 29, 2015 in California federal court.