Power Window Motor Makers Hit with Price-Fixing Class Action Lawsuit

Nearly 50 automotive dealerships filed a proposed class action lawsuit in Michigan federal court alleging numerous Japanese auto parts makers conspired to fix the prices of power window motors sold in the United States since January 2000.

The plaintiffs are a group of car dealers from across the United States. They filed the class action lawsuit against Japanese companies Denso Corp., Mitsuba Corp., and their U.S. subsidiaries for conspiring to illegally inflate the prices for power window motors in violation of federal and state antitrust laws. They seek to represent all car dealers who purchased vehicles containing power window motors or who purchased replacement power window motors that were manufactured or sold by any of the defendants, their subsidiaries or alleged co-conspirators since Jan. 1, 2000.

This power window motor antitrust lawsuit is part of the sprawling multidistrict litigation (MDL) called In re: Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation, which accuses the makers of numerous car parts of conspiring to inflate the prices of auto parts sold in the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division is currently involved in an investigation of the auto parts market.

“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 power windows price-fixing class action lawsuit says. “The ongoing cartel investigation of price-fixing and bid-rigging in the automotive parts industry has yielded more than $2.3 billion in criminal fines.”

The plaintiffs allege that they had no knowledge of the alleged price-fixing scheme until the Justice Department made a public announcement about Mitsuba’s anticipated guilty plea on Sept. 26, 2013. Therefore, they claim their class action lawsuit should not be affected by the statute of limitations.

In the meantime, the makers of car parts continue to get slammed by class action lawsuits over their alleged price-fixing schemes. In February, Mitsuba Corp. and other automotive parts makers including Panasonic Corp., Hitachi Automotive were hit with separate class action lawsuits accusing them of conspiring to fix prices for air flow meters, which involve sensors that measure the volume of air flowing into vehicle engines.

Several auto parts makers have already agreed to settle class action lawsuits stemming from the alleged price-fixing scheme. To date, Yazaki Corp., TRW Deutschland Holding HmbH, Autoliv Inc., Lear Corp., and Nippon Seiki Co. Ltd. have agreed to settle their portions of the auto parts price-fixing MDL.

The plaintiffs are represented by Brendan Frey, Gerard V. Mantese and David Hansma of Mantese Honigman Rossman and Williamson PC; Don Barrett, Brian Herrington and David McMullan of Barrett Law Group PA; Jonathan W. Cuneo, Joel Davidow, Daniel Cohen, Michael J. Flannery, Victoria Romanenko and Yifei Li of Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca LLP; and Shawn M. Raiter of Larson King LLP.

The Power Window Motor Price-Fixing Class Action Lawsuit is Power Window Motors – Dealership Actions, Case No. 2:13-cv-02302, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The Auto Parts Price-Fixing MDL is In re: Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation, 2:12-md-02311, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.